One Piece! Captain Spears D John!
by Geroar
Summary: A tragedy befalls the strawhat pirates at loguetown. Will this be the end of their adventures? Will Usopp be able to become a brave warrior? Will Nami be able to make a map of the whole world? Will Zoro be able to become the greatest swordsman? And will Sanji be able to find the All Blue? Who knows? But one thing remains... who is Captain Spears D. John?
1. C1 Loguetown adventure

**One Piece! Captain Spears D. John!**

I will be using ship terms to describe the location of the crew members on the ship. I suggest you look up "ship terms" on google images.

Here are a few terms:

Backside of the ship = the stern

Front of the ship = the bow

Front deck of the ship = the forward

Back deck of the ship = the aft

Right side of the ship = starboard side

Left side of the ship = port side

Center deck of the ship = amid ship

 _ **Chapter 1: Loguetown adventure!**_

 _Straw hat pirates/going merry_

The going merry was sailing across the open sea of the east blue. Zoro was sleeping on the forward deck of the ship. The squawking of seagulls above woke him from his nap and as he stood up and looked ahead towards the horizon he noticed something.

"Hey, I can kinda make out an island." He said aloud notifying the rest of the straw hat crew.

"Eh? Really?" Luffy said as his arms stretched, grabbing onto the railing of the ship and allowed the pull of his rubber arms to shoot him on top of the railing where he sat crossed legged, holding onto his straw hat. "What island is that?" he wondered.

"Didn't we go over that already?" Nami said as she walked up behind the two of them, followed by Sanji and Usopp. "Ah?" Luffy dumbly responded.

"So that's the island where Loguetown is." Usopp said while Sanji lit his cigarette. "It's a pretty big city." Sanji commented.

"Yes, I've heard that too." Nami said.

"They should have lots of good places to get fresh food." Sanji noted.

"I need to go to a weapon store." Zoro reminded himself. "Three sword style with only one sword just won't work." he continued.

"Yeah, I wanna check it out too." Usopp said.

"On that island, Gold Roger was born… and also executed." Luffy dreamily thought aloud.

"Oh? So you do remember." Nami teased as she leaned on top of the railing to get a look at her captain's face.

"The city where the Pirate King died." Luffy continued to think aloud, all the while holding onto his straw hat as the wind was trying to blow it away. "A place called, The Town of the Beginning and the End." Luffy spoke to himself in a rare moment of seriousness that made Nami laugh for a second.

 _On the deck of the Red Maiden/ship of Spears D. John_

"Captain! Island ahead!" the man in the crow's nest yelled down to the deck where captain Spears D. John stood at the helm. "Acknowledged! Great job up there! Now why don't you come on down here?" captain John yelled up at the man. "Thanks! But no can do, captain! This crow's nest is my home!" the man yelled back with a smile.

'That guy is still as weird as ever!' John thought. Captain Spears D. John was a young man in his early twenties. He had spiky black hair and a matching goatee, connecting to his moustache, the sides of his face were kept shaved to a stubble. His eyes were black as was the sleeveless shirt he was wearing underneath a red and gold captain-coat. Red boots on his feet, black pants and a red sash holding them up. Captain John might be one of the youngest on the ship, seeing as he was 22 years old, but he was tall for his age and was sporting two muscular arms, a chiseled chest and sturdy legs.

"Captain? Did I just hear right? Did someone say that they spotted an island?" a voice asked behind the captain. John turned around, taking notice of his helmsman standing in the doorway that led to the mess hall where most of the crew spent their breaks and took their meals.

The Red Maiden was a galleon type ship made of red wood and flying red sails, capable of carrying a crew of 200 men, but it currently housed a mere 124. Being a galleon type ship, the Red Maiden had three masts each with their own set of sails. It held 2 mortar cannons on the forward(=front upper deck), 20 medium cannons on each side of the upper deck, 30 heavy cannons on each side of the gun deck just below the upper deck and another 4 light cannons at the front of the gun deck. In total, the red maiden possessed 106 cannons. At the stern of the gun deck was a room where all the weapons were stored. Pistols, rifles, swords, axes, cannonballs and gunpowder. Below the gun deck of the Red Maiden were the sleeping quarters filled with hammocks for the crew to sleep in. Below the sleeping quarters was the cargo hold, were all of the valuable goods got stored from spices to gold!

Built on the aft(=back upper deck) of the Red Maiden the mess hall which was filled with wooden tables. The kitchen was attached to the starboard side of the mess hall so the crew could easily be provided with their meals and move on to the table and sit down. The mess hall also provided the crew with cards, dice and instruments for entertainment and gambling. Above the mess hall were the captain's private quarters, where he slept and relaxed.

"Ah helmsman, great timing! Yes, we spotted the island where Loguetown is situated, take over the helm will you?!" John informed his helmsman. "Ayay, captain!" the helmsman said as he took over.

John walked to the side and down the stairs to the deck, stopping halfway down. "Listen up you scurvy dogs!" John yelled getting the crew's attention. "We're almost at our destination so hurry up and get ready to unload the cargo hold! Take down the black flag and put up the one for trading! Prepare to drop anchor! Put the weapons below deck and try not to look like a bunch of bloodthirsty pirates! We're docking pretending to be traders, you got that?!" Captain John yelled his orders.

"Ayay, captain!" the crew said before scrambling.

 _Loguetown/Marine base_

At the marine base in Loguetown a message was coming through with information pertaining several pirates spotted in the area that might be heading for Loguetown. The marine soldier sitting at the desk took the piece of paper and rushed into the captain's office saying: "Captain smoker! A message from headquarters!" the room was filled with smoke and a silhouette, sitting on a couch, could only barely be made clear. "I've just received word that three notorious pirate crews are heading to Loguetown from the east blue!" the marine soldier continued.

"Which ones?" Smoker asked.

"First are the buggy pirates under buggy the clown, no change in their bounty since last time! The second is Monkey D. Luffy and his straw hat pirates, the bounty on his head has just been raised to 30 million berries! Lastly are the rumors of the spear pirates lead by Captain Spears D. John! Also known as the marine hunter! His bounty has gone up as well, it went up to 42 million!"

"That marine murdering scum dares to come to my town?!" Smoker yelled in anger, insult clear on his face. "Yes captain, but we still don't have any idea what he looks like! He never leaves any witnesses except for civilians, and from the descriptions given we can't make out a face, the details given are just too contradictory!" the marine soldier said.

"So his bounty increased again?! I take it he sank another marine ship?" Smoker asked. "Yes captain two in fact, during the same battle, however we finally got a description on the ship, captain!" the marine said excitedly. "Apparently it's a galleon type ship made of red wood with red sails! It was reported stolen from a dock located at one of the northern islands of the east blue!"

"Good, now about this straw-hat Luffy… 30 million heh? I guess I ought to congratulate him for his increased bounty then?" Smoker said sarcastically. "Sir this is the pirate that took down Don Krieg and destroyed Arlong Park!" the soldier said. "shut your mouth! All your whining is getting on my nerves." Smoker said as he walked towards the window, opening it and letting the smoke clear out of the room. "Ever since I've been stationed here not a single pirate has set foot on this island without being captured!" Smoker said as he walked back around the couch picking up his jacket and putting it on.

Suddenly another marine ran into the offer where he stopped and saluted, "Reporting sir! I have word that a pirate group has recently arrived, you're requested there at once!"

"It must be one of the three sir!" the first marine soldier said. "I'm going to check it out. Where is Tashigi?" Smoker asked. "She said she had something to do but that she would be back in time for practice!" the second marine replied making Smoker growl in discontent.

 _Loguetown/docks_

Smoker arrived at the docks just in time to see a band of pirates breaking into a storehouse. "So you must be Monkey D. Luffy? I know what Buggy looks like, and I can tell just by looking at you that you're not Spears D. John! You lack the guts to be a marine hunter, no… you must be straw-hat Luffy, although I doubt you're worth 30 million berries."

"It's the marines! Come on boys! Attack!" Gally the crescent of the crescent moon pirates said to his crew. The pirates drew their weapons and charged.

 _Loguetown/Shopping district/Nami_

"Captain Smoker?" she asked leaning on the register of the clothes shop, looking at the shopkeeper.

"He is definitely one of the toughest marines we've seen in this town. Loguetown used to be a hangout for pirates, who're heading for the grand-line. But not anymore, not since Smoker, ever since he arrived here every single pirate has been captured, incarcerated and executed. There are some who even say that he has devil-fruit powers!" the shopkeeper said.

'This might be bad.' Nami thought.

 _Loguetown/docks_

The fight was already over, the Crescent moon pirates had all been beaten and tied up. "Incredible Captain Smoker! You've taken out the straw-hat pirates all by yourself!" a marine said impressed.

"You're a complete idiot. This isn't Luffy, anyone could tell that." Smoker said. "if this group is worth 30 million then I'll become a pirate." Smoker said sure of his case.

"Man this town is so big! I know I'm not lost, so where is the execution platform?!" Luffy thought out loud looking left and right until he spotted Smoker. "Hey! Can you help me?! Hi I need some help. Do you happen to know where they execute people around here?"

"The platform." Smoker stated drily. "Yeah I know, I just can't seem to find it!" Luffy said. Smoker was about to ask something when he got startled by the young man with the straw hat.

Luffy suddenly jumped up excitedly, startling Smoker. "Wow look at that! That's amazing it's so huge!" Luffy yelled with stars in his eyes as he gazed out over the ocean. Smoker calmed down and looked to his right and his eyes widened before narrowing as he was now looking at a red galleon with red sails and a trading flag, sailing into port. "Spears D. John." Smoker whispered, his teeth clenching, thereby breaking his cigars making them fall to the ground. Smoker walked away from Luffy, stepping on the two cigars, subsequently putting them out and pulling two new ones from his coat lighting them.

"Hey mister where are you going?! How do I get to the platform?" Luffy yelled after Smoker as the marine captain broke out into a mad dash. "Ahw man. How am I going to get there now?" Luffy asked. The marine soldier that had been with Smoker earlier answered Luffy's question "Just head into that alley over there, once you've gotten to the main road go right and follow it to the central plaza."

"Oh thanks!" Luffy said and started running into the alley.

 _Loguetown/Roronoa Zoro_

"Dammit, these swords are all so expensive!" Zoro complained as he looked through the glass display outside a shop. He was distracted from his thoughts by a commotion, by the sound of it, a fight was about to break out. Heading for the crowd Zoro witnessed two very tall, very ugly pirates ganging up on a young woman. When the two men charged he was about to jump in, but stopped when he noticed the skill the woman possessed. She wouldn't need his help, not against those guys at least.

It happened really fast, he could follow it all, but could hardly believe it! While the people didn't seem to have any problem believing, even though they hadn't been able to follow at all. It was over in a moment. The two pirates collapsed and the woman ended her attack almost perfectly. She had talent but she was nowhere near his level. He could beat her easily, even with one sword.

The woman stepped away from the collapsed men but stumbled losing her glasses. The glasses had slid away until they came to a full stop in front of his feet. Zoro bent over to pick them up and hand them to her when he saw her face. She looked just like Kuina, this shocked him to the point where his hand twitched and thereby crushing the woman's glasses.

"Ah my glasses! Those were really expensive!" The woman yelled while Zoro apologized over and over.

 _Loguetown/docks_

Spears D. John was sitting on a crate at the docks, watching as the dockworkers operated a giant crane. The crane was lowered through a hatch in the center of the Red Maiden's upper deck, all the way to the cargo hold where his men were loading the goods they had for sale onto a net, which was then hoisted up in the air and lowered again on the docks. There the crates and barrels were counted and then moved into the store house. Each time the crane dropped a new load of crates and barrels, the merchant buying his goods would hand over a stack of berries. Each crate and barrel was counted, the content checked and weighed, and finally the money required for that load would be counted and handed over after each load.

The merchant had found it quite annoying but the ship's captain had insisted and had made some very logical arguments. If he were to pay up front and they decided to stop unloading the goods into his store house he'd be robbed, but then again if he were to pay after everything had been unloaded, but something were to happen that damaged the goods while they were in his storehouse he might claim to not have bought them and that it was the loss of his clients. So it made sense to pay the appropriate amount of cash after each load had been moved into his storehouse. He was even thinking about adopting this way of trading with his other clients.

As the merchant handed over another stack of berries, Captain Smoker of the marines suddenly arrived. "Where can I find the captain of this ship?!" Smoker announced loudly. "Right here!" John said waving the stack of berries above his head drawing Smoker's attention. "Are you Captain Spears D. John? Captain of the spear pirates?" Smoker asked aggressively, making the merchant look at his business partner and quickly backing up a couple steps. "John grinned and turned around, looking Smoker in the eyes. "I'm afraid you have the wrong man… I'm sorry who are you?" John asked with a friendly smile on his face. "I'm captain Smoker of the marines. And any pirate that sets foot in my town gets a date with the gallows." Smoker growled.

"Ah that's good to know captain Smoker, I am Nathaniël Flint. Captain of the Crimson Crown, that's the name of my ship you see? And as you can see by our flag up there, WE are NOT pirates but PEACEFUL traders recognized and authorized by the WORLD GOVERNMENT to trade in every port under it's jurisdiction." John said with a smile.

"Yes I can see that. However this ship fits the description of a pirate vessel that was last seen heading for this island." Smoker said. "Well I'm sorry to disappoint you captain smoker but we aren't pirates. So if you don't mind… continue unloading the goods boys!"

"If you aren't pirates then you don't mind if I take a look inside your ship do you?" Smoker asked with a smug look on his face.

"Actually, I do mind." John said calmly. "So you're saying that you're unwilling to cooperate with the marines?" Smoker asked again smugly but this time a sweat was starting to form on his forehead.

"If by cooperate you mean allowing you and your marines on my ship then yes, I am unwilling to cooperate." John said, his smile having disappeared although he remained calm.

"Then you are obstructing in a marine investigation and will be taken into custody." Smoker said still looking and sounding smug, except for the sweat now dripping from his forehead. Smoker's backup had just arrived, a group of 50 marines ready at his command. Smoker stepped forward to take the man calling himself Nathaniël Flint into custody, but then stopped.

John watched as 50 marines suddenly appeared at the docks and formed up behind Smoker. John sighed as he knew what was going to happen next. The moment Smoker moved into his direction, John suddenly jumped up off of the crate and said "Pocket-Pocket Pistol!" John had pulled a pistol out of nowhere and was now aiming it directly at Smoker's face.

"Not a single step further!" John yelled causing Smoker and the marines behind him to stop. Then Smoker suddenly started laughing, saying "you think your gun is going to work on me? You may not know, but I ate the Smoke-Smoke fruit a logia type devil fruit. Your bullets won't do a thing."

"I know exactly who and what you are! I also know that a sea-prism stone bullet will work just fine!" John said, with a dead serious look on his face.

'Shit!' Smoker thought, 'He called every single one of my bluffs, I only have one left.' "You're threatening a marine officer. That's punishable offense, drop your weapon and let us inspect your ship or you're going to prison for a very long time!" Smoker threatened.

"I know my rights! And I know yours as well, unless I allow it or you come back here with a search warrant you can't set a single foot on my ship. And if you do then I'm well within my right to shoot you." John informed Smoker.

Smoker's nostrils flared and his eyes screamed murder but he put his jitte away on his back, saying "Stand down marines…" causing the 50 marines behind him to lower their rifles. "I'll be back with that warrant." Smoker growled. "And I'll be waiting for you." John said smugly, twirling the pistol around in his hand before saying "Pocket-Pocket deposit!" and the pistol disappeared again.

Smoker left with his marine squad to head for city hall where he would have to wait half an hour just to be able to meet with the mayor, then he would have to explain why he needed a search warrant AND convince the mayor of its importance. And then he would probably be waiting until tomorrow for the search warrant to be approved, signed and handed over to the marines.

Sometimes Smoker really hated being a government official.

"Okay boys! Once the cargo has been unloaded your all free to go into the city and drink until you drop! We won't be seeing that guy any time soon!" John said to his crew who broke out in cheers. "Hooray, hooray! Long live the captain!" they all yelled.

"Excuse me, captain Flint? You aren't really a pirate are you?" The merchant asked worriedly. "What? No of course not, you have nothing to worry about, trust me." John said grabbing the fat little man by the shoulder and pulling him closer into a one armed embrace, both looking at the next crane load being lowered on the docks. "I'm just an honest merchant trying to make an honest living." John said.

"Then why didn't you let him inspect your ship, surely you don't have anything to hide!" the merchant seemed a bit uneasy. "Listen friend, you're lucky getting to do business in a single town. But me and my crew go from place to place selling and buying our goods. Now, Smoker might be an honest man but trust me… there are just as many marine officers out there that are as rotten as a dead fish. I have to stand up to these guys or else they'll walk all over me and my crew. And before you know it, they either confiscate all of your cargo as so called protection taxes or they'll destroy it!" John said convincing the little fat merchant.

"Oh my! I never knew that trading oversea could be so dangerous!" The merchant said. "I completely understand, although I can assure you that Captain Smoker is not one of those men."

"Perhaps, but let's not talk about that anymore, instead let's have a drink to celebrate a successful business transaction between us." John proposed and then led the man back to the crate he was sitting on earlier and said "Pocket-Pocket champagne!" and out of nowhere John suddenly pulled a bottle of champagne, two glasses and a corkscrew.

"How did you…? what did you just… how?" the merchant stammered. "Ah yes, you see just like Captain Smoker I also ate a devil fruit. I ate the Pocket-Pocket fruit. It allows me to store away any item I want, in a place where I alone can reach it and then pull it out again when I need it. I did the same thing to that pistol earlier." John explained.

"Really now? That must come in handy." The merchant said having calmed down again. "It does, I don't have to carry anything heavy and if my ship can't store anymore cargo I simply store it away using my Pocket powers!" John said. "Now would you like a glass? It would seem they are unloading the last of it right now." John continued.

"Ah yes thank you very much!" the merchant said as he took his glass of champagne from [Captain Flint]. "To a successful business transaction and hopefully a new friendship." John said raising his glass. "To a successful business transaction…" The merchant clinked his glass against John's and then hesitated for a moment before making up his mind, smile and say "… and to a new friendship." The merchant finished. "Friendship!" John cheered and threw his glass back drinking it all at once. The merchant tried to do the same but the drink was too strong and he started coughing and John started laughing as he patted the man on the back.

 _Loguetown/alleyway café/Buggy_

Sitting at a table in a dark café underneath the streets of the town, buggy the clown pirate was shuffling a pack of cards and started dealing them on the table. "With this I can tell the future." He said, snickering like a madman. When the cards were all placed on the table he turned the card that had been facing down up until now over, revealing ace of diamonds. "The cards, they never lie! They tell me the time for flashy revenge is close at hand!" he exclaimed as his grin widened. "That rubber bastard will finally get what's coming to him." the woman behind him, known as Iron Mace Alvida spoke up asking, "So, do those cards let you know if you kill the little twerp?"

"They're about to, heheh." Buggy replied as he turned the last card over saying "Voila!" the card revealed was the King, a picture of Richie the lion with a crown on his head and a royal red and white cape on his shoulders.

"Excellent! Today the straw-hat dies by my hands!" Buggy shouted in glee before he started to laugh maniacally. "Whatever." Alvida said, rolling her eyes. "I hope you haven't forgotten that we first have to find the little twerp." She said reminding him of their situation.

At that very moment Monkey D. Luffy ran by the café through the alleys past Mohji and his lion Richie. Mohji recognized him immediately and turned around peeking through the little barred window at the ground. "Captain! Quick! It's him!" Mohji informed Buggy, Alvida and Cabaji. "After him!" Buggy yelled out as they gave chase.

 _Loguetown/marine base/Zoro_

Zoro was cleaning the floors at the marine base when he started complaining. "Dammit this is going to take the whole day! Unless.."

Because Zoro didn't have any money to pay Tashigi for the repairs of her glasses she had brought him to the marine base to work off his debt as a chore boy. Taking out trash and stuff like that.

Zoro opened the broom closet and took out two additional brooms. And by applying his three-sword style he was able to clean the floor in but a mere seconds. "Three-mop technique, works like a charm." He said to himself, distracted by several clacking noises he looked outside the window seeing the woman from earlier, Tashigi, training against four other marine soldiers. It would seem that both of them were mopping the floor with something, in her case with someone. (Hah I made a joke!) Tashigi beat all four marines with little effort.

Seeing her like that Zoro was once more reminded of Kuina. "Hey you! Just what do you think you're doing!" a marine behind him asked, his hand already of his sword. "Huh?" Zoro said turning around to look at the two marines dumb enough to threaten him.

"It's Zoro! The pirate hunter!" the second marine said. "Why are you cleaning?" the second asked. "Intel says that you joined up with Monkey D. Luffy's crew." The first said again.

Zoro sighed deeply as he wondered how he got himself in this situation. *sigh* "Drop the mop!" the second marine ordered. Without hesitating Zoro turned around and attacked the two marines, knocking both unconscious. "Well, guess I should leave." He said to himself.

 _Loguetown/main street/Spears D. John_

"Thank you shopping at "Carter's Charts", please come again!" the owner of Carter's Charts said to his exiting customer. "Very unlikely but not impossible!" John replied as he put a small object away using his pocket-pocket ability.

"Okay, I've got what I needed now to get what I want!" John said out loud as he strolled down the middle of the street. His impressive appearance caused the regular citizens to step out of his path. He loved how people subconsciously seemed to recognize how in some way he was superior to them and that he wasn't going to go around them. It was like when two male animals met and wouldn't back down to prove themselves to be the alpha. Yeah! It was just like that, he was the alpha and he wouldn't back down just because some guy didn't get out of his way.

A sadistically grin appeared on his face when a perfect example was just in front of him. A drunk seemed to be having a hard time walking straight. John could already see that the drunk wouldn't be able to get out of his way in time. So when he was just a few inches away from colliding with the drunk, John stretched his left arm out and pushed the drunk to the side and out of his path. The people on the street stopped to watch, fearing that some kind of fight would break out.

"Watch where you're going old man!." John said with an annoyed look on his face. The drunk picked himself up off the ground and turned to look at the one who pushed him down to the ground, saying "What did you do that for?!"

"Do you have any idea what time of day it is?" John asked as he glared the man into silence. "It's half past twelve in the afternoon. What kind of idiot gets drunk at a time like this?!" John asked angrily. The man shied back a bit at seeing the angry look. "I did you favor here old man! You may not realize because you live in a peaceful little town like this, but in any other town if you had bumped into the wrong man you'd still be laying there on the side of the street with a bullet hole between your eyes!" John said scaring the drunk and the people around them. "I suggest you pick a better time to get drunk, or at least keep to the side of the road next time." John said before leaving and continuing ahead.

'Now where was I going again?' he thought. A moment later he noticed an weapons shop with two cutlasses crossing one another above it with the words "ARMS SHOP". 'Hmm, I wonder what kind of swords they carry? Perhaps I can get an upgrade? The best sword I have at the moment is the one that I took from that marine officer a week ago.' John decided to check it out.

 _Loguetown/arms shop/Zoro_

Zoro walked into a weapons shop, ignoring the everything inside the shop he made his way straight to the register where an older man was sleeping, his head resting on his arm. Behind him was a display of armor and several swords.

"I'd like to pick up some swords." Zoro said, waking the man up. "Of course, of course, welcome. Have a look at anything you'd like. We have an extreme variety to choose from." The man said rubbing his hands together at the prospect of a customer. "I've got one-hundred-thousand berries for two swords. Can you do that?" Zoro asked.

"Two for a hundred-thousand?" the man asked. 'Great, this guy is broke.' He thought losing interest. "for a hundred thousand I can give you two dull blades." He said.

"I can make do with whatever, I just don't have the money right now."

'Ha, you can't make do with whatever unless you're an amateur. *?!* that sword could it be?!' he thought as he noticed the sword hanging from Zoro's hip.

"Hey, pal could I take a look at that sword you got there for a moment?" he asked nervously.

"Hey, are you okay there buddy?" Zoro asked. "Let me see!" the man said pushily. "Yeah, whatever." Zoro said as he handed over his white katana sword.

The man held the katana with extreme care and slowly slid it out of its scabbard. Confirming what he already assumed his eyes grew to five times their normal size before he tried to calm himself down thinking 'Stay cool, poker face, poker face, a complete amateur just walked in with a legendary sword. It's show-time!'

"well, that's a pretty nice sword you got. You wanna sell it? I'll give you two-hundred-thousand berries for it. what do you say? That will leave you with three-hundred-thousand, which should buy you some pretty good steel. At a hundred thousand a piece there are bound to be three swords you like in here."

"What?! Are you kidding me?!"

"Alright. I'll give you two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand berries! No wait! Three-hundred-thousand! Final offer five-hundred-thousand!"

"Just stop, I'm not selling. The sword is mine!"

"Tough guy! I'll buy it from you for six-hundred-and-fifty-thousand berries! *grrr* Fine! I give up! How does eight-hundred-thousand berries sound to ya?"

At that moment the young marine woman from before came running into the store with wrapped up katana, yelling "I'm ba~ack! Did you finish polishing my Shigure?" that's when she recognized the man standing beside her. "Aha, you're okay. I was worried about you! Some marines had been attacked earlier where you had been mopping the floor but you were gone so I thought you might have been kidnapped." She said.

'She's not very bright.' Zoro thought feeling embarrassed.

"By the way here's your money back. I can't accept money from a heartless ingrate, besides I already got some new glasses." Tashigi said as she put her glasses on. Now that her vision had improved she took notice of the katana that the shop owner was still holding in his hands.

"That sword looks just like the Wadou Ichimonji!" Tashigi exclaimed as she grabbed the sword from the shopkeeper's hands. "Is this really the sword?!"

'Wadou?' Zoro thought confused. 'Stop talking, stop talking…' the shopkeeper begged.

"It's beautiful! This has to be one of the twenty-one Oowaza-mono swords." She said, opening a small book and flipping through the pages until she finally stopped. "See, look at this. It says here that this swords is worth no less than twenty-million berries. But you're broke?! How do you have this legendary sword?" she asked confused.

"YOOOU! You told him everything! You're ruining my business!" the shopkeeper yelled at her.

"Eh? Did I say something I shouldn't have?"

"You came here for your Shigure, right? Here, it's been polished and sharpened, now take it and get out!" he said as he threw the sword that he pulled out from underneath the counter at her.

Tashigi had a hard time catching it and fumbled with it for a while, continuing to stumble back until she bumped into someone who caught her before she could fall down.

John had just entered the weapons shop and not a moment later a young woman bumped into him. He quickly planted his feet firmly and grabbed onto her, keeping both from falling to the ground. "Oh I'm terribly sorry about that." She apologized.

"That's alright, are you injured?" John asked white his most charming smile, seeing that the woman was about his age and quite attractive.

Tashigi blushed and averted her eyes saying "No, I'm alright. Uhm you can let go now…"

"huh? Oh right." John let go as he realized he still had his arms around her.

In the meantime Zoro had gone over to a couple of barrels that was filled with swords. As he was rummaging through them, Tashigi joined him "You really like swords, don't you? Since you carry three of them. It sounds like this one bounty hunter…"

"A bounty hunter, eh?

"He's very famous. His name is Roronoa."

"I hear the name a lot."

"Yes, he has a reputation throughout the East Blue as a great swordsman. But he's an evil man! Using a sword as a tool to acquire money is… unforgivable!" she said before turning sad.

"Why is it that this is an age where evil is so strong? The great swordsmen of the world are all pirates, or bounty hunters. All the great Meitou of the world are in their hands, you see? The swords are crying."

"Well, different people have different circumstances, don't they? People's occupations are determined by the needs of the age." Zoro countered her.

"I swear, with this Shigure… I will be a swordsman and improve my skills! And then, I'm going to travel the world, and free the Meitou from the hands of scum! The legendary Saijou Oowaza-mono 12. The Oowaza-mono 21. The Ryou-Waza-mono 50. I'll risk my life for it!" Tashigi said with a determined look in her eyes.

Zoro turned around and was about to say something but was cut off as a roaring laughter resounded throughout the shop. Looking over to the register, Zoro and Tashigi both saw John leaning against the register, throwing his head back as he laughed loudly.

Wiping a tear from his eye, John looked at Tashigi and said "I can't believe how naïve you are! First of all, Roronoa Zoro is an evil man because he uses his swords to acquire money? You do realize that all the money he makes, he earns by doing the marines job? Killing and apprehending criminals of the world government! Every time he collects a bounty the world becomes a safer place for the people that you can see walking through these very streets! How does that make him evil?"

John got up and started moving towards Tashigi keeping his eyes locked with hers as he continued on saying "Secondly, If you think that all pirates are evil then I have news for you girl! For every evil pirate out on the open sea there are just as many marines that commit acts of unspeakable evil! Murdering the innocent, extortion, abuse of power! The marines aren't as pure as you might think girl!" John was now standing right in front of her, staring her down.

"And finally, the swords are crying? Bullshit! Swords have never been happier! When a sword is forged it is given a personality based on the feelings and emotions of the one who forged it! Later it can grow, learn and even change its personality based on the feelings and emotions of the one who wields it! But at its very core every sword is forged for only one purpose… to kill!" John finished saying. "You really don't know anything!" he almost spat.

Tashigi seemed about ready to break down into tears when his expression softened and he stepped back. Looking to the side he saw Zoro had gone back to rummaging in the barrel. "So what about you?" John asked. "What do you think?"

"I'd like not to get involved in this… *sigh* but if I had to, I'd say I would have to agree with you rather than her." Zoro said as his hand rested on the hilt of a katana and froze completely.

"No way!" Tashigi said defeated as she fell to her knees, holding her sword tight to her body.

"Any way good look with your swords I've got to talk to the shopkeeper about a sword of my own." John said to Zoro.

"Yeah thanks, you too." Zoro replied as Tashigi saw the sword he pulled out of the barrel and immediately recovered going into a detailed explanation.

John had arrived back at the registry where the shopkeeper had displayed the best swords he had available. None of them were the stuff of legend but all of them seemed to be pretty good quality. There were four swords laying in front of him.

The one on the utmost left was a katana of great quality, the scabbards and the hilt had a blue color, decorated with the image of a golden dragon. The guard was also made of gold and looked like a dragon that had wrapped itself around the sword and then continued to do so until its head rested against its body.

The one next to that was of lesser quality but was more unique as it didn't have a smooth edge instead it possessed teeth like a knife used for cutting steak, the hilt and scabbard were both black and it didn't have a guard, instead it had an evil looking eye separating the blade from the hilt.

The third katana drew his attention, something seemed to draw him to this sword. The scabbard was red as well as the handle. The blade itself seemed to be normal, though he thought that he saw it pulsating a crimson glow before fading to black and returning to its normal shining steel color.

John glanced at the last blade but almost immediately returned to the crimson katana. Picking it up and drawing it from its scabbard he thought he could hear or feel the katana breathe with satisfaction. Like when you take a deep breath of fresh air and then let it all out again.

"I'll take it." John said as he placed the blade upon the counter and pulled out a stack of money with his pocket-pocket ability. "Pocket-Pocket money!"

"Thank you, that will be five-hundred-thousand berries." The man said happily. John handed over the money and put the katana back into its scabbard before placing it between his sash. He could have just stored it away with his devil fruit powers but he wanted to have close to him for now.

"Sir, this is too much you gave me five-million berries. I'm selling it to you for only five-hundred-thousand!" the shopkeeper said as he finished counting the money. "You asked for the amount you wanted to sell it for…" John began, "…I gave you the amount that I believed it was worth." He explained with a smile. "Consider it to be a generous tip from a satisfied customer or a compliment to katana itself. This is a great katana and buying it for only 10% of what it's worth would be an insult to its greatness." John explained before turning around.

John was already heading for the door when Tashigi suddenly turned to the shopkeeper, "Sir, do you really want to sell this katana for only fifty-thousand berries? That's amazing! It's one of the legendary works of sword craft!" she asked and then turned to Zoro. "You should get! It's worth should be one-million berries. That's a great deal."

"No way! Not that sword! I won't sell it!" the shopkeeper said with a frightened expression.

"I thought so! That sword for fifty-thousand berries… I thought it seemed strange…!"

"No, it's not that-" the man began.

Zoro examined the sword closely, his expression serious as he could feel something radiating off of the katana. Holding it to the ground he made a statement "It's cursed."

"You knew?" the shopkeeper asked surprised.

"No, I feel it."

"Now this could be interesting." John said as he brought his full attention back to the green haired swordsman.

"The swordsmen who have used the Kitetsu over the years… All of them came to tragic fates, mysterious deaths. You won't find a single swordsman in the world nowadays who will use a Kitetsu. Because everyone who ever used the sword, is dead! I wanted to get rid of the damn thing, because of its curse…" the shopkeeper explained.

"I-I'm so sorry! I had no idea it was such a terrible thing! I-I shouldn't have intruded!" Tashigi said lowering her head and bowing in apology.

"I like it. I'll take it." Zoro said ignoring her.

"Eh?!" Tashigi.

"Are you stupid? If I sell it to you and you die, then won't it be like I killed you?" the man panicked before he was hit on the head by his wife who had come in without anyone noticing.

"You're the one who's being stupid!" she yelled. "Just sell it!"

"H-honey?!"

"How about this? My luck… and this thing's curse… Let's see which one is stronger!" Zoro said with a confident smile on his face. To the surprise of everyone in the room including John, he threw the sword straight up and making it spin.

"No way!" Tashigi said. silence filled the room, Zoro focused his gaze to the floor and stretched out his left arm.

"Stop! Its sharpness is the real thing! You'll lose your arm!" the man yelled.

Zoro simply ignored him and closed his eyes. Continuing to spin as it made its way back down, drawing ever closer to Zoro, it's path of descent clearly brought it to Zoro's arm. It was only a matter of time to see whether it would cut him or not. Everyone held their breath and time seemed to slow down as they witnessed the blade spinning AROUND Zoro's arm, leaving him unharmed and planting itself into the floor.

Zoro opened his eyes and gave a victorious grin, saying "I'll take it."

"Hahahahahaaaa, you know what? I like you dude! How about joining me on my ship? I'd love to have a man with your guts and skills!" John laughingly invited him.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to decline." Zoro said.

"Hmm, to bad… in that case I wish you the best stranger." John said exiting the shop.

"Yeah, you too." Zoro replied.

 _Loguetown/main street/Usopp_

"Are you the gentleman that's been bothering my adorable little daughter?" Daddy Masterson a.k.a. Daddy the parent asked to Usopp after his daughter gave him a pair of goggles for his birthday and accusing Usopp of trying to steal them from her.

"No… I just…" Usopp stammered.

Carol Masterson pulled on her father's cloak, saying "There's something else…" and continued to whisper in her father's ear. "there's a bounty of thirty-million berries."

"A bounty worth thirty-million huh? Let's take a look." Daddy said.

"oh are those the new bad guys?" Carol asked looking at the stack of wanted posters in her father's hands. "Yeah I just picked them up today. Six-hundred, one-point-three-million, seven-hundred, huh, thirty-million, Monkey D. Luffy. For a first bounty that's impressive." Daddy said while Usopp had started to back away trying to escape unnoticed, without success.

"Where are you going?" Daddy asked. "Okay, that's not me. I'm not the guy in the poster. I was just trying to pretend to be a bad guy, bye-bye now! I'm out of here! Bye! See ya!" Usopp said as he made ready to leave.

Daddy just showed the wanted poster of Luffy and put his finger on the spot where the back of Usopp's head could be seen, saying "That's you."

Usopp immediately stopped and walked over towards Daddy "Okay you caught me again, but just try and lay a hand on me and you'll see what happens. My captain, Luffy, won't sit idly by when one of his crew is in danger! He is a cold blooded, soulless demon from the pits of hell itself. You can't even imagine the pain he can inflict. You've got your daughter to worry about, why risk your life over it?" Usopp bragged and lied, trying to get out of trouble.

"You're right. It's not worth it. Anyone worth thirty-million berries is no ordinary man and that's for sure." Daddy said.

"Papa! You can beat him, you're the strongest man ever and you're not afraid of anyone!" Carol said.

"Darling I don't have to prove anything, I just need enough to get by to keep us happy. So long as you think I'm the greatest that's all that matters to me. Understand?" "Papa?" Carol looked at her father with sad eyes.

'I scared him off just like that? I guess I don't know how truly terrifying I am. Time to flex' Usopp thought.

"I'm glad you came to your senses fool! Now give me my goggles and maybe I'll let you escape with your life." Usopp said.

"Huh?!" Carol glared at Usopp.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna pay for them, I'm a killer not a thief. Now give 'em here!" Usopp bragged.

"My daddy's letting you go old man! If I were you I'd be running for my life!" Carol said but was stopped by her father from saying anything further. "papa?"

"Okay, fine, if that's how you want it, then let's settle this dispute like gentlemen."

"Gentlemen?" "Here." Daddy said as he tossed Usopp a pistol."

"A duel? Huh, I think I can manage that!" Usopp said as sweat poured down his face.

"if you win the goggles are yours." Daddy said, spreading out his cloak revealing a bunch of pistols underneath.

 _Loguetown/Graveyard/Usopp, Nami, John_

Nami was walking down the street when a bunch of people ran past saying things like "it's daddy!" "there's gonna be a duel." "Who could be that stupid?"

"Daddy the father?" Nami thought out loud. "Everybody knows that daddy the father is the greatest gunslinger of bounty hunter history! Not to mention he's never lost a duel before." As she pushed her way to the crowd she began to say "What kind of idiot…" only to see her crewmate Usopp standing back to back with Daddy. "…Oh that kind." She said.

'What the hell just happened? Why am I dueling this guy?' Usopp thought.

"Simple rules…" Daddy said. "Walk ten paces and fire." "O-okay." Usopp replied, sweat pouring down his face and his legs trembling with the fear he couldn't hide.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Nami called out. "Nami?" "It looks like you're facing Daddy the father in a duel. Are you nuts!" Nami yelled.

"You're not helping! You never have anything nice to say!" Usopp yelled back, temporarily forgetting the situation he was in.

"You get one shot are you ready?" Carol stated.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five." 'What am I doing? This sucks! I'm so stupid, there's no way I can beat him.' Usopp thought between Carol counting. "And six." 'I'm gonna die now. This can't be happening!' "Seven." 'I can't believe it, my adventure is just beginning and I'm already gonna die! Who'd have thought it would come to this?!' "Eight."

*BANG!*

the sound of a gunshot rang through the graveyard. Seeing as everyone had kept their eyes on Daddy rather than Usopp the crowd and Carol turned to look at Usopp expecting to see him standing there turned around with a smoking pistol aimed at Daddy the father. Instead what they all saw was Usopp lying down on the ground in a puddle of blood.

Daddy turned around in shock, seeing his opponent lying face down in a puddle of blood.

"Aaaaah! Daddy!" Carol screams before she starts to cry.

"Usoooopp! Nooooo!" Nami called out.

"Carol! Sweetheart come here quick!" Daddy said as he protected his daughter from any possible shooter, by hiding her within his cloak.

"What just happened? Who shot him? Where did that shot come from?" the crowd started saying.

"I'm sorry to cause such a commotion. I heard there was a man worth thirty-million berries dueling against Daddy the father, and I thought, how easy would it be to shoot this man while he's too busy focusing on Daddy to watch out for a third shooter?" John said, standing a couple of feet away from Usopp's body with a smoking pistol in his hand.

"This was a gentlemen's duel!" Daddy yelled out in anger. "How dare you interfere!" Daddy said as he raised his pistol to bring justice to the young man who had just been killed.

*BANG!*

Another shot was fired by John, hitting Daddy's hand, injuring him and sending his pistol flying. Daddy hurried to try and grab another pistol but stopped when another shot was fired. This time the bullet went right by Carol's face, making her freeze before screaming. "Nah-ah-aaah!" John said wiggling his finger from left to right. "If you try that again… I'll put the next one through her heart!" John said with an evil smirk.

"You wouldn't?!" Daddy yelled. "Oh you bet I would!" John replied seriously as he bent down and grabbed Usopp by the two straps on his back. "Now I'll take my leave and collect my bounty if you don't mind." and with that said, John dragged the body away until he turned into an alleyway.

"You can get up now!" John said as he dropped the body. Usopp twitched for a moment before getting up and saying "Thank you! for a moment there I thought I was a goner." Usopp said. "No problem, but tell me… how did you do the blood thing? I was starting to think you actually got shot!" John asked.

"Oh that? That was easy you see…" "Hey you stop! Drop him now!" Nami said as she came rushing into the alleyway. "Nami?!" Usopp asked surprised. "Usopp?! But I thought… I saw you… and the blood…" "Just what is going on here?!" Nami demanded to know.

"Hi, my name is John. When I heard about the duel I rushed over in the hopes of seeing something entertaining. But when I got there all I saw was an idiot who had never held a pistol before in his life, about to throw his life away for something he regretted doing in the first place. So, I pulled out my own pistol, signaled to your friend here what I was about to do and I fired a shot into the air. Your friend dropped to the ground, and the rest you saw for yourself." John explained.

"But where did all that blood come from?!" Nami asked.

"I was about to explain that, it's one of my inventions you see. I call it the ketchup star! It's basically a plastic ball filled with ketchup." Usopp explained.

*relieved sigh* "Well I'm glad you're okay Usopp. But what were you thinking going up against Daddy the father like that?!" Nami screamed. "It doesn't matter." John said, "All that matters is that he's alive. A coward perhaps, but most definitely alive."

"Hey don't call him a coward! Running away from a fight like that isn't cowardly! He never stood a chance in the first place! Wanting to live isn't cowardly, so don't you dare call him that!" Nami yelled at John.

"No. He's right!" Usopp said as he stood up, determination in his eyes. "Usopp?" Nami asked surprised.

"I was afraid and a coward. But not anymore… I'm going back there and apologize to daddy and ask for a do over." Usopp said. "Are you crazy?!" Nami asked angrily.

"I just saved your life and now you want to throw it away?!" John asked surprised.

"I'm sorry, I'm indebted to you for saving my life. But it's not worth living if I have to go through it as a coward. I'll say it once more, thank you. But I have to do this!" Usopp said and then turned around and started sprinting back.

The crowd had already disappeared, but Daddy and Carol were still there. Carol was bandaging her father's injured hand with a piece of cloth torn from her own dress when Usopp suddenly came running from the streets. "Old man you're alive!" Carol yelled happily. "What happened?" Daddy asked. "I thought you were dead?!"

"I'm sorry!" Usopp cried as he fell to his knees in front of the two. "I was afraid and a coward! The man you saw earlier, he helped me to get out of our duel. But I've come back to ask your forgiveness and for a second chance! I couldn't live with myself if I ran away from this!" Usopp begged.

"Usopp! Stop, you don't have to do this! it isn't worth your life! Like I said before, there's no shame in what you did. If you hadn't run away you'd be dead right now!" Nami tried to talk some sense into her friend the moment she caught up with him.

"Usopp? Young man, your name's Usopp?" Daddy asked clutching his injured hand.

"Y-yeah." "Could it be…" Daddy wondered. "Do you know a man called Yasopp, of the Red-Hair Pirates?" "Yasopp? That's my father's name… Have you met him?" Usopp asked. "I see… his son…" Daddy said to himself.

"Papa?" Carol asked looking up at her father.

"Not a single word… I have never said a single word about that day to anyone. But for you, it'll be different. It all happened in a hot sweltering port town like this one…" Daddy said.

Daddy then went on to explain about his encounter with Yasopp. How they had dueled with pistols, how Yasopp had won the duel and refused to take his life. About how Yasopp told him he had a son himself, named Usopp.

"A marine elite who turns into a bounty hunter. So that's why…" Nami said.

"Papa… Papa losing against a pirate, and having to live? It's all a lie, right? Right, Papa?" Carol desperately asked her father.

"But, isn't it amazing? Your father is an amazing guy, huh? He beat Daddy! Plus, he didn't forget you! There's even a small chance that we'll meet him on our adventures!" Nami said to Usopp but was stopped when Usopp started to cry, trying to hide his tears.

"Oh… I understand how you feel." "No! That's not why… That's not why I'm crying! Is this normal? Telling the story of how you almost died? Telling such a story to a coward like me? You told it to encourage me! A story that normal people would hide! Even though I'm so cowardly, you told it to me… How my father leads his life… Isn't that right? I can't stand being weak or cowardly!" Usopp cried out swallowing the tears he felt pricking his eyes.

"Carol…" Usopp turned to the little girl. "Your Papa is a great warrior. A strong person can be found anywhere! But, I've never seen a man who is strong and kind like your Papa… I… I can't lose like this. If I don't gather up my courage… It'll be embarrassing for your Papa." Usopp said before turning towards Daddy again.

"Daddy, give me another chance for a duel, to put my life on the line! I won't try to back out this time!" Usopp begged.

"Very well! But I can't duel with my injury… instead I'll give you a challenge. Choose the weapon you're most comfortable with." Daddy said.

Usopp searched in his bag until he found and pulled out his green slingshot.

"Good. With that… Let's see…" Daddy said as he looked around until he spotted something. "Show me you can hit that weather vane."

"Weather vane… That?" Usopp said but was startled when Daddy pulled out a gun and aimed it at his head. "If you miss…" Daddy said leaving the threat open.

"Yeah, you'll blow off my head, that's fine." Usopp replied. "This is a duel, where a man risks his life!" Usopp adjusted the grip on his slingshot and pulled back. "No way!" Carol said, the fear in her eyes clearly visible. "There's no way you can hit that far with that thing!"

Having put his old goggles over his eyes, he fully pulled the slingshot back. Grinding his teeth together as he focused on his target, being careful not to accidently let go. The bell tower started to chime, like a countdown. Before the last chime could be heard Usopp fired his slingshot. The metal ball went flying with a whistling sound.

Carol put her hands together in prayer.

"He missed!" Nami said after the last chime had rang. "Stop Papa! Don't shoot, Papa!" Carol hurried to grab her father's cloak.

"How can I? Usopp hit his target!" Daddy said.

Nami had taken out a spyglass and was looking at the weather vane that was shaped like a whale wearing a crown, and indeed… there was a small hole in the center of the crown. "He's right! He hit the jeweled crown!" Nami cheered before Usopp crashed to his knees.

"Superb skill, as expected from Yasopp's son. If you don't forget that courage, I'm sure one day… You can become like your father. Go to the Grand Line. Yasopp will definitely be there." Daddy smiled.

"Pretty good, old man!" Carol said as she handed Usopp the goggles and left with her father.

"Even after falling from grace, he fights to protect his loved ones, eh?" Nami said, watching the two leave.

"I too will become a courageous man like Daddy. I will become a real warrior someday… And come face to face with my father! Someday!" Usopp said, smiling at the horizon.

 _Loguetown/fish market/Sanji, John_

Sanji was looking around the fish-market near the docks. He'd already bought all of the supplies he'd need and more as he found the best ingredients at the best prices. He still had a little bit of money left, so he decided to buy some fish.

Stopping at one of the stalls he took notice of some of the fish, saying "This is incredible!"

The stall owner looked up and said "you got good eyes there, boy. Those are some inshore fish we caught only this morning."

"Inshore?" Sanji said confused. "This fish is quite fresh… But I've never seen a fish like this." Sanji said as he pulled one up by its tailfin. "Did you really catch it here in the East Blue?"

"Boy, you're a sharp one. Just as you thought, this is a fish that can only be caught naturally in the West Blue. Most people in the East Blue don't notice it, so we don't tell 'em." The stall owner explained.

"West Blue? How can you call that inshore?" Sanji asked.

"Boy, you've never been to our town before, have you? Loguetown is the closest place to the Grand Line, Meaning you can catch fish not only from the East Blue, but from all the other seas as well."

"Other seas?" Sanji asked. "You got it. They must've gotten here by the ocean currents. Happens all the time." The stall owner said before the sound of an excited crowd could be heard behind him. "Looks like something's up. Let's check it out, boy!" he said and went to over. "Hey, what's all the fuss? Ah, that's-!"

Sanji had a hard time but managed to make his way through the closely packed crowd only to lay eyes on a fish that seemed familiar to him somehow.

"Amazing! That's a blue-finned elephant tuna, ain't it?" the stall owner from earlier asked.

"Right you are! Must've washed in from the south seas. We got it with just one fishing pole!" The fisherman who caught it said.

"Just one?"

It was at this moment that Sanji thought back to a moment during his childhood, when he was still a kitchen help aboard a ship. He remembered his seniors talking about the fish, where it came from and that he'd probably only ever see one if he would come across the All Blue.

"All Blue…" Sanji whispered.

"Alright, let's get this outta here." The fisherman said. "P-Please wait! How much is it? Please sell it to me!" Sanji yelled out.

"What?" "I have the money. Let me have it! Please!" "No can do. This guy ain't for sale. I just decided to make it a prize. Sorry 'bout that." The fisherman said.

"Prize?" Sanji wondered. "Yeah. We're about to start the All East Cooking Contest. Cooks from all over the East Blue gather for this competition. The winner will get this as a prize." The stall owner from earlier said.

"It's a blue-finned elephant tuna we're talking about here after all. It'll be a perfect prize for the champion." The fisherman supported the stall owner.

"If you want it that badly, why don't you enter? You're a cook ain't ya, boy?" the stall owner asked.

"Yeah…" Sanji replied. "Registration's over there. Go ahead and enter, if you want. If you don't hurry, they won't let you in, boy. Later! Oh before I forget, there's an entrance fee you have to pay!" the stall owner said and disappeared with the fishermen who carried the fish away.

"Cooking Contest, eh?" Sanji smiled as he could already taste the fish. "Alright then." He said and turned around to register, but then stopped. "Huh? Wait a sec…" he said, remembering the challenge Carmen had issued to him earlier that day. "Ah well." he said to himself.

Sanji arrived at the registration booth, where an old lady was sitting. "Hello I'd like to register for the cooking contest." Sanji told the elderly lady. "Oh that's just wonderful my dear. Can I have your name please?" the old lady asked.

"Sanji" "Okay, S-a-n-j-I" she wrote down the name. "Where did you learn to cook? And in which culinary establishments have you cooked before now?" "I learned most in the Baratïé, but I spent some time in the kitchens on a ship as a kitchen aide." Sanji answered. "Okay dear, now all I need from you is five-hundred berries entrance fee and you can go ahead and take a seat over there." the old lady said.

"Five-hundred berries?! What am I supposed to do now? I don't have that kind of money left." Sanji complained.

"Don't worry about it." a voice suddenly spoke up from behind him. Sanji turned around and saw a man with black hair, a moustache attached to a goatee, and dressed in black with a red captain's coat, red boots and a red sash holding a red katana.

"Hi, my name's John. I don't mind sponsoring for you, if you'd be willing to do me a favor in return." Joh said.

"Sanji... What kind of favor?" Sanji asked. "When they caught that Blue-finned elephant tuna… I heard you saying something about the All Blue, are you trying to find it?" John asked.

Sanji hesitated for a moment but then said "Yes, it's my dream to go to the grand line and find the All Blue." Sanji answered making John smile.

"Well then, here's my offer to you… I'll sponsor you in this contest right here and in return, if you ever find it, the All Blue, you come and find me and tell me where it is! Do we have a deal?" John asked extending his hand and giving the blond cook an honest smile. Sanji smiled back and shook his hand eagerly. "Deal!" Sanji said.

After that John paid the five-hundred berries entrance fee and Sanji went and took a seat with the other contestants and had a smoke. John went over to stand in the audience.

The cooking contest began and to his satisfaction, the man called Sanji breezed through the competition. And the young man with the long nose and the girl with the orange hair from earlier arrived and seemed to know him very well.

"Hey, wait a sec! Look! Over there!" Nami said as she spotted Sanji.

"Hey, isn't that Sanji?" Usopp asked. "Yeah?"

"Oy! Sanji! Over here!" Usopp yelled. "Sanji!" Nami yelled.

"Nami! You've come to cheer me on?!" Sanji asked.

"Not really. I was just passing by." Nami said.

"But Sanji, why are you in this contest?" Usopp asked. "Oh Usopp, you're here too?" "I WAS THE ONE WHO CALLED YOU FIRST!" Usopp yelled.

"Well, that doesn't matter, I found this beautiful fish that would make for an excellent ingredient and I just had to buy it. But it wasn't for sale because it would be given as a prize to the champion of this cooking contest. So I decided to enter…" Sanji explained becoming a bit shy at the end. "…there was a slight problem though, I didn't have enough money to pay the entrance fee and I couldn't risk being too late to register by going out and looking for you Nami. Luckily I met this guy who wanted to sponsor me in exchange for the location of the All Blue once I've found it." Sanji said.

"Wow that was awfully nice of him!" Usopp said. "I find it kind of suspicious…" Nami said.

After that Sanji competed, winning the entire contest and with it the Blue-finned elephant tuna.

 _Loguetown/central plaza/Luffy_

Luffy had been running around town the entire day. He'd asked for direction from several people but had gotten lost every single time. *heavy bored sigh* "Haaaaaah, where am I? Where is the executioner's platform? I'm hungry! I'm thirsty! I wonder where the others are? I'm sooooo hungry! I wonder if they've all gotten lost? I'm soooo hungryyyy!" Luffy complained as he dragged his feet across the ground as well as his arms which had stretched out to the point where they dragged behind him. Luffy's tongue was hanging out of his mouth as he groaned a final time, looking up to the sky.

Then out of nowhere a gust of wind pulled his straw hat from his head and carried it into a side alley. "Ah my hat! Come back hat!" Luffy yelled as he gave chase. It took a while but Luffy's hat finally settled down on the ground in the central plaza, opposite of the executioners platform.

"I'm so glad. Hat." Luffy said picking up his hat. Looking up, Luffy noticed where he was and said "I've found it. Lucky." With a big smile.

In one of the alleyways connecting to the central plaza Cabaji and Buggy where standing. "I saw him! Over this way!" Cabaji said. "What? You sure?" Buggy asked.

"Straw hat Luffy has been spotted?" Smoker asked as he returned from city hall with a search warrant for the Crimson Crown. "Sir. Just as you anticipated… a man fitting the description has just been seen at the plaza." A marine soldier reported.

"Good." Smoker said.

"Move out flashily." Buggy whispered to his crew.

'So he's shown himself. I'll deal with Spears D. John later, for now I can't waste this chance to capture Monkey D. Luffy.' Smoker thought.

Iron Mace Alvida was making her way towards the plaza as well.

Standing on top of the executioner's platform, Luffy said "Woohoo! So this is the view the Pirate King saw! Then… He died!"

 **TO BE**

 **CONTINUED**

 _ **End chapter 1: Loguetown adventure!**_

Holy hell! It took me a long time to write this thing. it's the longest chapter I've ever written by far!

Please follow, favorite and review!


	2. C2 CrewWithoutCaptain CaptainWithoutCrew

**One Piece! Captain Spears D. John!**

 _ **Chapter 2: Crew without captain! Captain without crew!**_

 _Loguetown/central plaza/Luffy_

"Wow! Someone's on the execution platform!" a normal man called out. "Who the heck is that?" another wondered.

"That old man said, this is where it all happened! Twenty-two years ago the king of the pirates was executed right here!" Luffy said as he looked out over the plaza and the ocean in the distance.

"Hey you up there!" a magnified voice called out to him. "Get down from there immediately!" a local town police officer yelled through his megaphone. "But why?" Luffy asked.

"You are standing on an execution platform that belongs to the world government! Now get down from there right now!" the man yelled annoyed.

"Fine, I'll come down. But first you have to say the magic word!" Luffy shouted with his hands cupping around his mouth, to be heard better. "And smile too!" He added.

"I'm not playing! I'll arrest you if you don't come down!" the man said moving forward. But before he could take one full step he was struck in the head with an iron mace, being carried by a beautiful woman.

"Hm! Now's not the time for such trifles. Long time no see, Luffy." The woman said. 'Huh?' Luffy thought. "I've been looking for you!" she said before snickering. Luffy only became more confused, simple saying "Huh?"

"Now that's just rude, don't tell me that you of all people have forgotten my face?" she toyed.

"Wow! She's absolutely gorgeous!" a man in the crown said as his eyes had turned into harts.

"I've never seen such beauty!" another said. "Her skin looks so deliciously soft!" another woman adoringly said.

"For god, I'm pretty sure we've never met." Luffy said. "Who are you?" Luffy asked.

"I'll never forget you. You were the first man to ever truly struck me." The woman accused.

"What?! I never hit you!" Luffy exclaimed. The crowd had begun glaring and shouting their opinions at him.

The woman had started rubbing her belly, saying "when you struck me with your passionate fist… it felt good." making Luffy cringe back a bit.

"Listen up boys, who would you say is the most beautiful sight in the whole East Blue?" the woman asked. "That would be you!" the crowd cheered together. "That is correct, I am quite breath-taking aren't I? the woman asked. "There isn't a man alive who wouldn't crumble before my beauty! But I prefer strong men, like you! I'm going to make you all mine Luffy! Just wait!" she stated.

"Ah gross! No way! Just who the heck are you?!" Luffy asked. "You still haven't figured it out?" she asked.

Their conversation was interrupted by the appearance of the local police. "This is the police! Put your weapon down and come quietly! I am placing you under arrest for assaulting a police officer! As for you up there, get off that platform!" one of the police officers said.

"Hold on a moment, who were you arresting?" the woman asked. "W-We're a-a-arresting you!" the officer stumbled, having caught a glimpse of her beauty. "Are you REALLY going to arrest MEE?" she asked sweetly.

All three officers swallowed loudly, and one said "We have a problem, sir! She's too beautiful!"

"I really don't give a damn! Arrest her!" "Do we have to?" "Can't we just stand here and look at her?"

"SURPRISE!" Buggy yelled as one of his flashy buggy balls crashed into the fountain nearby.

"A terrorist bombing!" one of the bystanders shouted. The debris from the fountain was sent flying, heading straight for the woman with the iron mace. "Watch out miss!" another one of the bystanders yelled out.

But it was too late, but too everyone's surprise the debris just slid right off of her.

"Did that just…?" "It slid right past her!" some of the people said in disbelief.

"Oh man, that's just weird!" Luffy said looking at where the debris had crashed into a roof at the edge of the plaza.

"hihihihi!" a cloaked figure chuckled. "That little stunt was dangerous you know." The woman said pretending to sound mad. Looking at the cloaked figure and the dozens of cloaked men behind him she brushed her hair back giving him a smile.

"I'm flashily sorry, but your smooth skin is unharmed of course so there's no need for trouble, fair miss Alvida." Buggy said.

"Alvida?" Luffy asked, thinking back to where he heard that name. An image of a big fat cowboy-dressed woman came to mind. "I don't see Alvida." Luffy exclaimed.

"Don't be so dense you dimwit! I'm Alvida!" Alvida yelled, losing her patience.

"Are you sure?! Cause I don't think you're her!" Luffy asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"I guess I really did change after eating the fruit called… smooth-smooth fruit. No attack can hurt my skin, because it slides right off." Alvida explained. "Unfortunately, a lowly fruit could improve upon my already stunning good looks. One big change you may have noticed, was that I lost my freckles." Alvida continued.

"Sure! That must be it!" Luffy said sarcastically.

"After becoming a whole new person I decided to join forces with someone who shared my goal of finding you." Alvida said pointing behind her towards the cloaked figure, who revealed himself to be Buggy the clown while laughing maniacally.

"Now that I've flashily made my entrance, behold the real star of the show! Ah, Monkey D. Luffy! Ever since the day you sent me flying I've been obsessed with exacting my revenge on you! That alone led me to finally finding my crew, my travels are an epic saga, I went through hell, found friendship, I even lost parts of my body! I call this tale, tiny buggy's grand adventure! The first thing that happened was… WHY THE HELL AM I TELLING YOU A STORY?!" Buggy began to monologue before stopping himself.

"Don't know! Now… what was your name again?!" Luffy asked and trying to remember. "Boggy? Boogy? Biggy? Baggy? Ah! I know! It's buffoon!" Luffy said.

"BUFFOON?! You got a lot of nerve you rubber bastard! And now Buggy the clown is gonna make you pay for that!" Buggy said going on a tirade.

"Hey, that's buggy the clown!" "pirates!" the people commented as they became nervous. "It's the buggy pirates!" a dozen voices yelled out, causing the entire crowd to go mad with fear and stampede.

"You people flashily stay where you are!" Buggy commanded. "I want every single one of you to see EXACTLY… how SCARY… I can be!"

"Oh yeah! Buggy? Right?" Luffy asked. "What?! You mean you just NOW remembered it?!" Buggy yelled.

The next moment Luffy found himself lying flat on his stomach. A piece of wood holding him down, which had three demi-circles cut out for his arms and head. Cabaji was sitting on top so he couldn't escape.

"Hey! What gives!" Luffy exclaimed. "Long time no see, rubber freak! How's your pall Roronoa Zoro?" Cabaji asked. "Got him! Good job Cabaji!" Buggy said before starting to laugh maniacally again.

"To all of my followers, hundreds of billions of them around the world! We will now super flashily begin the public execution! You're trapped, Monkey D. Luffy! You can't move so much as an inch! Tell me straw-hat! Feel honored? You'll die in the same place as the king of the pirates!"

 _Loguetown/Main street/Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Zoro, John, John's crew_

"Run! Pirates are here! It's buggy the clown!" a group of panicking civilians ran by shouting.

"What was that? Buggy the clown? Pirates?" some of the members of John's crew said. "Hey guys! There seems to be something going on at the central plaza! Let's go take a look!" one of the crew said as he took off. He was quickly followed however by the rest of his fellow crew who had been drinking and eating to their hearts content.

"What'd they say?" Nami asked. "I think they said buggy." Zoro replied.

"What's going on now? I don't have the time for this! That marine could show up any moment with that search warrant! I need to find my crew and get outta here!" John said. He looked around in the hopes of seeing one of the members of his crew. He didn't expect to find them all run out of a restaurant and heading for the central plaza though.

'Where the hell do those idiots think they're going?!' John thought.

 _Loguetown/Marine base/Smoker_

"And then what?" Smoker asked. "Well sir, it isn't just straw-hat Luffy! It's also buggy the clown! And iron mace Alvida! They're all there! Wanted pirates from the East Blue, have taken over the central plaza!" a marine soldier reported.

"They do all this in front of me? Why those scumbags! What about the Spear Pirates?" Smoker asked. "As far as we know the suspects have been keeping calm, sir! Keeping to eating and drinking! …Captain Smoker, sir… what are your orders?!" the marine asked.

"Have unit number one and three out to the sea and have unit two surround the pirates from the streets. Here's the search warrant for that red galleon, have the lieutenant commander inspect the ship! If they resist… sink it! The other units will stand-by within shooting range of the plaza! See that it's done!" Smoker ordered as he handed over the search warrant to the marine.

"Sir!" the marine said as he saluted. "And give this order to unit one, they are to capture any pirate ship as soon as they see one except for the red galleon, leave that ship up to unit three! I don't want a single one of these wretched pirates to get off this island! NOT A SINGLE ONE!" Smoker added.

 _Loguetown/Main street/Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Zoro_

"It's time for the execution!" "Buggy the clown is gonna kill straw-hat Luffy! Yeah!"

"They're gonna execute him?!" Usopp asked, as he couldn't believe it. "That freaking idiot!" Nami said.

"Let's go!" Zoro yelled. "Hold this!" Sanji said to Usopp, shifting the weight of the Blue-finned elephant tuna into Usopp's arms. "Hey! S-Sanji!" Usopp screamed as he struggled with the added weight of the fish. "And treat it like a lady! You got that?!" Sanji yelled as he disappeared.

"Come on, we've got to hurry!" Nami said as she grabbed Usopp by his backpack and dragged him away in the other direction. "Where're we going Nami?" Usopp asked. "The harbor you numbskull!" "The harbor?! Oh. Yeah. I knew that."

 _Loguetown/Central plaza/Buggy, Luffy, John, John's crew_

John's crew had already arrived at the plaza and had mixed themselves in with the civilians who had formed half a ring around the buggy pirates who were celebrating and putting on circus acts.

John himself just arrived and noticed the huge crowd of people standing in front of him. All of them staring up at the execution platform where Buggy the clown was standing, with his foot on top of the wooden board that still kept Luffy down. A storm had started to move over Loguetown as dark clouds rumbled with thunder and the prospect of rain.

"Mwahahahahaaa! Pirate Monkey D. Luffy of the straw-hats! Will be flashily executed, for the crime of being stuck up and making me angry!" Buggy announced.

"Oh boy! I've never seen an execution!" Luffy said excitedly. "Well you're about to kid!" Buggy laughed. "Hm?" Luffy hummed confused and then pointed at himself starting to get the picture that he was the one being executed. "What?! Stop joking!" Luffy yelled as he started to fear for his life. "It's no joke!" Buggy replied sadistically.

"Alright! I hereby flashily begin the festivities of this public execution!" Buggy yelled out so that all could hear him.

 _Loguetown/Main street/Nami, Usopp_

"I saw a massive cumulus cloud in the eastern sky!" Nami stated. "That means an unimaginably big storm is heading our way and it's coming in fast!" Nami continued as she ran with Usopp right behind her. Her breathing had become ragged as she was running as fast as she could while carrying several bags worth of clothes, slowing her down.

"If buggy and Luffy have caused a scene then the marines are sure to come out! And if our ship is washed out to sea when we need to escape then we're done for!" "That is a big deal!" Usopp commented.

"As a matter of fact I believe the marines have already started taking action! And they might destroy the going merry when they find it!" Nami expressed her fear.

"Hold on! So you're telling me the going merry's in danger?!" Usopp asked without waiting for a reply he increased his pace, passing Nami while yelling "Come on Nami! Hurry up!" "Wait for me!" Nami yelled.

 _Loguetown/Harbor/unit one, unit three_

Unit one arrived at the harbor before anyone else. The marine officer in charge of unit one spoke up, saying "Alright men! Spread out and search for any ship flying a pirate flag, or shows any sign that might link it to pirates! Every ship is to be inspected except for that galleon over to our left! Unit three has been assigned to that ship, any other is ours to deal with!"

"Sir! Yes, sir!" the marines replied as they saluted and left in small groups of 3 to 5 people.

The lieutenant commander calmly walked up to the Crimson Crown with half of unit three formed up and marching behind him. "Stop! Where are you going?!" One of the few crew members that was left to guard the ship asked.

The lieutenant commander reached into his coat and revealed the search warrant, saying "I have been authorized to inspect this vessel under the suspicion of falsely pretending to be traders recognized by the world government. Now step aside!"

"Alarm! The marines are trying to seize the ship! To arms! Protect the ship until the captain returns!" the crew member yelled as he ran back onto the ship rousing his mates and grabbing a riffle that was leaning against the railing. The rest of the crew sprang to action and reached for their swords and riffles.

"Take cover and open fire!" the Lieutenant commander ordered. The marines marching behind him scrambled to take cover behind the crates and barrels on the docks and in between the many store houses. Moments later 40 men from unit three were exchanging fire with 15 men of the Spear pirates who had the advantage of the higher ground on the ship.

 _Loguetown/Central Plaza/Buggy, Luffy, John, John's crew, Zoro, Sanji_

"I'm so sorry. Really I am. Please spare my life." Luffy sounded unenthusiastic. "Why would I spare your life?!" Buggy yelled. "You've got quite a big audience here today, straw-hat. You wanna say a few words before you die?" Buggy teased as he had his foot pressed down on Luffy's hat and head. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? That's alright, stay quiet or say a few words it doesn't matter, you're still gonna die!"

"LISTEN!" Luffy yelled out. "I'M THE MAN WHO'LL BE KING OF THE PIRATES!" He yelled loudly, making his voice ring out across the entire plaza.

"What?" "He said king of the pirates." "In this town of all places?" "That's a crazy thing to say."

"We're finally getting to the best part of the show. Bye-bye now." Buggy said while Luffy tried to struggle free.

"Stop the execution!" Zoro's voice was heard saying.

"(NOW! NOW!)" Zoro and Sanji said at the same time.

"Sanji! Zoro!" Luffy called out to his two friends.

"Zoro?" Tashigi said surprised, reaching for her binoculars.

"Luffy you idiot!" Zoro complained, having already put on his bandana over his head, shadowing his eyes. "Guess all that fooling around finally caught up with you, huh?"

"You starting a side-show? Or is that just how you look?" Sanji asked as he grinned trying to keep positive in this desperate situation. "Pretty sad! Now… what we've got to do is drive these goons away!" Sanji finished.

"No it's pirate hunter Zoro!" a regular civilian called starting a panic as all the civilians fled for their lives, leaving Zoro, Sanji, Luffy, Alvida, Buggy, buggy's crew, John and John's crew behind to be to only ones left in the plaza.

As the civilians fled, John's crew had started to become anxious grouping together out of instinct. Luffy who was still stuck yelled out "Hey guys!"

"You made it, Zoro! But you're just a little bit too late!" Buggy said as he lifted his sword up, getting ready to cut of Luffy's head.

'crap!' Zoro and Sanji both thought before rushing ahead. "We have to bring down the platform!" Zoro said to Sanji.

Looking through her binoculars Tashigi tried to get a clear view on Zoro but the civilians blocked her line of sight. "Roronoa… Zoro!" Tashigi spoke the name seriously.

"Okay boys! Get 'em!" Alvida ordered the buggy pirates into the fight.

The buggy pirates clashed with the two straw-hats, Zoro cutting a path through and Sanji knocking everyone unconscious who got too close to him, with his kicks.

"Hahahahahahaaa! Not even the great Zoro can stop me now! There is nothing you two can do! It's the end for your captain!" Buggy roared out happily!

"You bastard!" Sanji yelled out! 'If I can just cut down the platform!' Zoro thought.

"Listen!" one of the marine officers said. "The moment Monkey D. Luffy's head falls, we all attack together!"

"Prepare… for battle." Smoker said. "Sir!" was the reply of his unit.

Buggy once again let out his maniacal laugh as he was about to bring his sword down upon Luffy's head. "Zoro! Sanji! Usopp! Nami!" Luffy called out. "Sorry. But… I'm dead." He finished with a smile.

Buggy swung the sword down, but the moment before it cut into Luffy's neck, static electricity could be seen crawling over the metallic blade. And then all of a sudden… lightning struck, blinding everyone for an instant and concealing what transpired up there.

'He smiled!' Smoker thought shocked.

The platform and buggy, both burst into blue flames. In the next moment it started to rain, and in the moment after the platform came crashing down.

Luffy's straw hat came floating down to the stone plaza, where it remained untouched… lying in a puddle of rain that rapidly started to turn red. Underneath where the execution platform used to stand now lay the headless corpse of Monkey D. Luffy.

"No… it can't be. Luffy…" Zoro said, frozen with his three swords still in his hands and mouth.

"Luffy… why?" Sanji whispered as he couldn't remove his eyes from Luffy's lifeless body. His eyes wide and his cigarette fell from his mouth.

Smoker was standing hidden inside a building on the edge of the plaza. "Attack!" he suddenly ordered. "Surround all the pirates now!"

In an instant, over a hundred marines suddenly charged into the plaza. "Shit! We've got to get out of here!" Zoro said, sheathing his swords, turning around and grabbing Sanji by the arm. "Wait! What about Luffy?! We can't just leave him like that!" Sanji protested.

"Listen! I don't like this anymore than you, but right now we need to find Nami and Usopp!" Zoro persuaded Sanji.

The marines drew nearer and in their panic the Spears pirates drew their swords and pistols and started throwing themselves into the fight, revealing themselves to be pirates.

Seeing that there were now more pirates in the plaza then predicted, Smoker ordered the second wave to reinforce the first one immediately. Zoro and Sanji however were able to fight their way through the marines and exit the plaza into the main street.

In the plaza the Spear and Buggy pirates were fighting for their lives with the marines, and more had appeared to join the soldiers in their fight to take out the pirates. Buggy and his crew were fighting in the center, with the main street in front of them and the crashed execution platform at their backs. On their right, the Spear pirates were desperately struggling for survival and on their left was Captain Spears D. John fighting all by himself, unable to get to his own crew he constantly remained vigilant. Waiting for an opening so he could join his crew and lead them out of here.

Spears D. John was making full use of his devil fruit abilities, he hadn't mastered them but he had more control than most devil fruit users. With his new katana in his right hand he cut down any marine stupid enough to get in close. And with his left hand he continuously switched using his pocket-pocket ability.

He pulled out a grenade and tossed it into a group of marines, taking them out of the picture. The marines adapted by spreading out, therefore minimalizing casualties in case of another grenade. Drawing their swords they charged from all directions.

John quickly pulled out a Viking axe. Cutting and chopping away at his attackers! When he blocked an attack with his katana, he would chop his axe down onto their skulls, into their chests or necks. Other times he used the curve of the axe to stop an attack by hooking the sword in place and then slashed at them with his katana.

Seeing that this wasn't working the marines adjusted their strategy once again. Switching their swords out for their rifles. John didn't waste any time, quickly sheathing his katana and storing his axe away. He then pulled out two very thick shields.

Each one decorated with gold on the front depicting a small but broad, armored man with a long beard and a helmet. In one hand he was holding a double sided axe and a heavy stone hammer in the other and behind the "Dwarf" there was a mountain. The entire picture put together made it look like the "Dwarf" was making a final stand to defend that mountain from anyone standing before him. Another detail about the two shields were the edges. The edges to the left and right weren't straight, instead they had teeth like a cog-wheel. And they were positioned so that the left edge of the right shield would fit into the right edge of the left shield.

Fitting the teeth of the shield together, John kneeled behind them as the marines fired a salvo. The shields did their work, not a single scratch could be seen on either him or the shields. Putting both shields away, John exchanged them for two clockwork pistols also known as revolvers. Getting up from his kneeling position he raised his arms taking aim and emptying both revolvers, each one holding six shots. Twelve marines dropped dead, face down into the puddles.

In the meantime Buggy had woken up after having been electrocuted and having caught fire. Immediately realizing the hopeless situation he planned his flashy escape. Relocating certain parts of his body using his chop-chop abilities he transformed himself into a jet motor of some sorts. Alvida ordered the buggy pirates to raise a ramp. Slipping out of her shoes and jumping into the air she slid down the ramp gaining speed seeing as her devil fruit abilities took away any friction that normally would have slowed her down.

Buggy then used one of his Buggy balls to create an opening in the lines of the marines. The Buggy pirates rushed behind Buggy and Alvida and safely made it through. The marines were about to give chase but Smoker gave the order to instead focus on the Spear pirates. Without the buggy pirates filling the gap the marines rushed in and created two circles. One to surround Captain Spears D. John and one for the Spear pirates.

Smoker himself, went after and caught, Alvida, Buggy and all of the buggy pirates by using his logia type Smoke-Smoke fruit abilities.

On the side of the Spear pirates the sounds of fighting were dying out one by one. There would be no surrender, no mercy and no retreat. Under the command of their captain they had committed crimes against the world government punishable by death. If they were to be captured they would meet their end at the gallows. So instead they chose to die fighting to the last man. The very… last… man…

…

*silence*

The last of the Spear pirates had taken his final breath…

 _Loguetown/Harbor/Unit one, unit three, Nami, Usopp_

Unit three had been exchanging fire with the Spear pirates left on the ship for about five minutes, when the Lieutenant commander decided that enough was enough. Shooting a flare into the air, the other half of unit three that had been lying in wait, carried out their orders. Appearing on the rooftops of the storehouses opposite of the Crimson Crown, or Red Maiden as it was really called, the marines now held the high ground. From the rooftops they fired down on the crew and the ship with bazookas, blowing the ship to smithereens until sank to the bottom of the bay. The marines of unit three cheered in victory as they watched it burn and sing.

Nami and Usopp arrived at the harbor in time to see the going merry being boarded by marine soldiers while they hid behind the corner of a building, sticking their heads out.

Unit one had found and captured the going merry. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Merryyyy!" Usopp quietly yelled as he was forced to watch it being sailed into one of the dry docks by the marines. "No! We weren't fast enough!" Nami screamed in frustration, the weight of the bags of clothes and the fish had slowed them down and the marines had gotten here before them.

"Nami! They've taken Merry, what are we going to do!" Usopp asked in despair as he cried about losing the ship given to them by the girl he loved.

"I'm sorry Usopp. But for now we should go back to meet up with Sanji and Zoro. Then we need to find a place to hide and come up with a plan." Nami said before turning around and running back in the opposite direction.

 _Loguetown/Central Plaza/Smoker, John, Tashigi_

John hadn't been able to find an opportunity to go and join his men and so had been forced to listen to their screams as they died. It didn't bother him, the screams that was, he had gotten used to the sound of death. What bothered him was that they had been so close by and yet he hadn't been able to reach them.

So close, and yet, so far away.

Even after his crew had died he had continued to fight, killing every marine in sight until… "Stop! Drop your weapon and surrender! You're completely surrounded, there's no escape! Just give up and I promise you'll be treated fairly!" Tashigi shouted putting a temporary halt to his slaughter. "That's quite the offer!" John replied, lowering his weapons slightly. His muscles relaxed so that they could rest, but not entirely so he'd be ready for a surprise attack.

"Here's my offer! Get out of my way or I'll kill every marine who stands between me and my freedom!" John said. "How can you say that?! Look around! You're crew are all dead, you're completely surrounded on all sides… if you continue to fight the only thing waiting for you is death!" Tashigi tried to reason with him.

"If I surrender the only thing awaiting me are the gallows!" John stated. "I'd rather take my chances in this situation right here and now! When I still have the ability to use my devil fruit powers and my weapons to fight with!" John finished.

"If that's how you want it… I challenge you to a one-on-one duel! Swords only! If I win, then you have to come quietly!" Tashigi proposed. "And if I win?! Do I get to go free?!" "Yes!" Tashigi responded. "You really have no idea how naïve you are, do you?!" John yelled back. "You really think these marines are just going to step aside and let me through after I've separated your head from your shoulders?!" John laughed.

"Don't underestimate me! Killing me won't be that easy, you know!" Tashigi replied feeling insulted at his confidence of beating her. "That's not the point, you dumb girl!" John shouted getting annoyed having to listen to her naïve ramblings. "The point is that you can't make that promise because no matter what happens, your very own marines won't keep the promise you just made." John said shaking his head.

"But I'll take you up on that challenge anyway! However! When we met in that little arms shop earlier today, you said something about liberating all of the legendary swords from the hands of pirates and bounty hunters. So I thought it would only be fair that when I beat you I take your precious Shigure over there for myself!" John shouted as a flashed her a confident grin.

"Marines! Stand down!" Tashigi ordered. "Commander Tashigi?! You can't be serious?!" the marine closest to her asked, taken aback. "I'm dead serious! Enough marines have died today, I'm ending this… right, NOW!" Tashigi yelled as she charged forward.

But before she could make her way to John a ball of smoke seemed to crash in between John and her. The smoke then washed outwards over the plaza, pushing Tashigi back, away from her opponent as she heard Smoker's voice, saying "Stand down Tashigi, this one is mine!"

"Captain Smoker…" John stated. "What can I do for you?" "You could drop dead." Smoker said as he glared at John, his cigars on one side of his mouth between his teeth.

"I'll consider it… but only if you go first." John smirked defiantly. Smoker smirked back "I thought you might like to know… that ship of yours… is sitting on the ocean's floor." Smoker taunted John, trying to get him to charge wildly.

John's nostrils flared in anger. He really liked that ship, luckily he kept all his personal effects in his Pocket-Pocket dimension. "So… are we going to do this or are you just going to stand there and hope that I die from this blasted rain?" John asked.

"Alright kid, have it your way." Smoker said before changing his legs into smoke and flying straight at his opponent. 'Shit, he's fast!' John thought before he was punched in the face by Smoker's fist and sent skidding across the stone cobbled ground.

John tried to get up before Smoker could continue his attack, but Smoker was already upon him. White smoke surrounded him and lifted him up into the air. He tried to get himself free, but struggling was useless, it was like trying to fight gravity. So instead he did the first thing that came to mind. "Pocket-Pocket cannonball!" John said raising his hands above his head and pulling cannonball out of his sleeve. Smoker's grip on his opponent, wavered for a moment because of the added weight of the cannonball. Lifting the cannonball high above his head, John said "Eat this!" and threw it towards Smoker's face.

"You should pay closer attention, kid." Smoker said. "I'm a logia type things like that don't work on me." He calmly said as he waited for the cannonball to pass through him.

"I think you're the one who should be paying attention!" John said, right before the cannonball hit Smoker dead in the face, knocking a few teeth out and breaking his nose. "Aaargh!" Smoker yelled out in pain, dropping John and his cigars, he palmed his face with both hands, trying to ease the pain. "How?!" he grumbled.

"Sea-prism stone…" John simply said. "Captain Smoker!" Tashigi screamed worried. "Are you all right? Don't worry captain, I'll take care of him!" Tashigi continued, as she reached for the hilt of her Shigure.

"No! Don't interfere! That's an order!" Smoker said. "But, captain…" Tashigi began. "That's an ORDER! Do I make myself CLEAR?!" "Yes… sir!" Tashigi reluctantly replied.

"Pocket-Pocket pistol!" John yelled. 'I have five sea-prism stone bullets left… better make them count!'

Smoker focused his attention back on the fight. What he saw confused him slightly but he didn't think too much about it. John had put his katana back into its scabbard and had picked up one of the dead marines swords instead. In his left hand John held his pistol in his right he held the marine's sword.

Rushing towards Smoker, John yelled out "Die and go to hell! You god damn bastard! *BANG!*" and he fired a shot from his pistol.

The shot grazed Smoker's cheek leaving a scratch. 'sea-prism!' Smoker realized and pulled his jitte from his back. Turning his legs into smoke again he boosted up his speed as he rushed forward as well. *BANG!* John shot another sea-prism bullet, but Smoker moved aside just in time to dodge.

Smoker knew he was going to get hit, if he got any closer. So he took a gamble and jumped high into the air and over his opponent. John hadn't expected this, but took aim non the less. As Smoker was almost right above him, John squeezed the trigger *BANG!* but missed.

Smoker landed only a couple feet behind him, quickly turning around he took aim again as Smoker was closing the distance fast. *BANG!* John fired another shot, but smoker dodged underneath it and was now right in front of John. "IT'S OVEEEER" Smoker yelled out as he swung his jitte against the side of John's head, hard! But while Smoker made to swing at John's head, John had thrown a desperate punch at Smoker's face. John's punch arrived first but passed right through him. Smoker's jitte however made full contact and sent John flying.

The marines at the side had been watching anxiously to see the outcome of the fight, but now they had all broken out in victory celebrations. "The captain did it!" "He beat him!" "He never stood a chance against the captain!" "Hey hold on a sec. Something's wrong with the captain!" "Huh?"

And indeed, something did appear to be wrong as Smoker had fallen to his knees and was grasping at his throat, coughing and gagging.

"YOU…! *coughing* WHAT DID YOU… *gagging* WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME…*coughing* YOU LITTLE PUNK?!" Smoker yelled between his coughing and gagging.

The marines all went to look at the spot where John was getting back up. The side of his head where he was struck was bleeding and the marine's sword in his hand had been shattered. Chuckling at what he already considered to be his victory. John got up and looked Smoker straight in the eyes.

"I blocked your jitte with this sword… or at least what used to be a sword!" John said as he through the broken piece to the side. When this fight began I had only five sea-prism bullets and one cannonball left." John said as he laughingly stumbled towards Smoker. "The cannonball came first, but do you remember how many shots I fired?" John asked trying to see if Smoker could figure it out by himself.

'Huh? How many shots?' Smoker thought confused before panic could be clearly seen on his face. 'One… Two… Three… Four… Four! He only shot four times!' Smoker continued. 'that means…' "That means that, that last punch… I was holding my last sea-prism bullet! And I forced it down your throat! In other words… you're unable to use your devil fruit powers right now." John finished.

"YOU BASTARD!" Smoker yelled in anger as he charged at him. John just planted his feet firmly into the ground, drew his katana and waited. At the last moment John moved forward and thrust his sword into Smoker's gut. Smoker's eyes went wide and gasped in pain.

"Captaaaaaaaaain!" Tashigi screamed as she witnessed her captain being skewered by his opponent.

Before John freed his katana from Smoker he pulled the Marine into a hug and whispered into his ear "Remember! YOU were the one that made me your enemy! NOT ME!" and with that he slid his katana slowly and carefully out of the man's gut, cleaned it off on Smoker's jacket and put it back in its scabbard.

The rain continued to fall as Smoker bled out, but none dared to go near him while John was within reach. Seeing that none of the marines had the will to fight anymore he stepped towards the broken executioner platform and picked up the straw-hat, still floating in a puddle of blood. After which he slowly stepped to the edge of the ring of marines who parted and freed his path for him.

A second later Tashigi sprinted to the center of the battle field to get to her Captain. Tears streaming from her eyes like waterfalls and snot dripping from her nose. "Captain! Please! Please don't die! Captain!" she begged and cried as she turned him on his back and was rewarded with the sound of a painful grunt.

"Oh thank you! thank you! thank you!" she thanked god and then turned to look at the marines under her command. "Don't just stand there! Go get a doctor! Somebody help me carry him! Carefully! Hurry!" Tashigi barked her orders.

 _Loguetown/Main street/Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Zoro_

"It seems that the marines aren't following us." Sanji said as he glanced back over his shoulder.

"That's good, now let's hope Nami and Usopp haven't set sail without us…" Zoro said.

"Dumbass! There's no way my sweet Nami would leave us behind!" Sanji yelled at him. Zoro smiled. "What are you smiling about?!" Sanji continued to yell. "It's just thought it's good to see you acting like yourself so soon after what happened. You've been unusually quiet since…" Zoro said, the smile disappearing from his face. "Yeah. I just figured you were right back there… about getting to Nami and Usopp being the most important thing right now." Sanji said. "So, which one of us is going to tell Nami and Usopp the bad news?" Sanji asked. "I'll do it! I was the first to join the straw-hats! I should be the one to do it!" Zoro said determined. "You do what you think you have to do man!" Sanji replied.

"Hey! Zoro! Sanji!" Usopp's voice yelled from up ahead. "Over here!"

The two groups of two kept on running until they met up with one another. "Nami?! Why aren't you and Usopp at the ship?!" Sanji asked. "Long story! I'll tell you later! First we have to find a place to lay low for a while! By the way where is Luffy?" Nami asked.

"Long story! I'll tell you later!" Zoro said as he pushed them into an alleyway just in time to remain hide from a group of marines coming out of a side street a few meters ahead.

The four remaining straw-hats continued to stealthily make their way through the many side streets and alleyways until they passed by an underground café bearing the name "Gold Roger café". The old man that owned the place saw them passing by through his small window and called out to them "Hey! Wait! You're those straw-hat pirates the marines are looking for aren't you?! Hurry! Get inside! You can hide out here if you want!" the old man offered.

"Do you think we can trust him?" Usopp asked to the others. They all hesitated, they hadn't found anything better than this, and they couldn't keep running around town the entire night. But if he betrayed them to the marines, they were done for.

While they were thinking it over the sound of many footsteps could be heard closing in on them from all sides. "It seems like we don't have a choice!" Nami said quietly and ran back and hurried down the stairs, quickly followed by the other three.

"Thanks old man!" Zoro said nodding towards the wrinkly guy. "Yeah, we really appreciate it!" Sanji agreed. "No time, no time! Hurry up! Down here!" the old man said as he hurried behind the bar, pulled a barrel out from under the counter which apparently was meant to hide a secret door to the cellar.

The straw-hats hurried down the wooden steps. Sanji went first, holding a lantern and lighting the way. He was followed by Nami who was still carrying her bags. Usopp had some problems getting the fish through the narrow entrance. The last one to go down was Zoro.

"Hey. hold on a sec." the old man said causing Zoro to turn around "The name's Raoul! Not old man!" Raoul smiled. "Alright. Thanks Raoul." Zoro said returning the smile.

 _Loguetown/Central Plaza/Monkey D. Dragon_

The sun had set almost an hour ago and the central plaza had been left abandoned, not a soul was around for half a mile in any direction. Except for one, a cloaked figure who appeared with the wind. Standing among the wreckage of the fallen executioner platform, the cloaked figure was looking down at something between the wreckage. The wind blew strongly once more as the rain still kept pouring down from the sky. When the wind settled down again a bolt of lightning illuminated the plaza and revealing the face of Monkey D. Dragon underneath the cloak.

Getting on his knees, Dragon reached down and picked up a round object. Another bolt of lightning revealed it to be the head of Monkey D. Luffy, the smile he had when he died was still etched onto his face. "You died while staying true to your dreams, didn't you? … Son?" Dragon asked, another lightning bolt accompanied by a roaring thunder came from the sky. This time revealing Dragon to be smiling, while tears were streaming down his cheeks. "I'm so very proud of you my son! I'm sorry I didn't get here in time to save you! please, forgive me!" Dragon said, hugging his sons head close to his chest and for the first time in a long while he cried.

Minutes went by while Dragon cried for the death of his son, until a large gust of wind blew through the plaza and with it, Dragon and the body of Monkey D. Luffy disappeared, head and all.

 _Loguetown/Gold Roger Bar/Straw-hats_

The cellar was bigger than they originally thought, the ceiling was made of wood and the walls were made of stone, the floor however was covered with white sand. The cellar was actually a network of tunnels that had been dug out underneath the bar and several of the surrounding houses. The tunnels led to different rooms, some filled with food, others with beds. Another room had access to water and would be used to shower and draw water for things like cooking, cleaning and other stuff.

"These tunnels appear to be used by pirates and criminals to hide in from the marines." Nami thought out loud after having explored a bit.

"We should be safe here for now." Nami said as she sat down on one of the beds. The beds were actually nothing more than some dirty blankets on top of rusty old bunkbeds. "Now, where is Luffy? And why isn't he with you?" Nami asked looking towards Zoro and Sanji. Sanji was smoking a cigarette while sitting on the bed next to hers.

"Yeah you guys. Don't tell me… Luffy got captured by the marines!" Usopp asked from on top of the bed above Nami, concern in his voice.

Sanji exhaled some smoke and turned his head away. Zoro, who was leaning against the foot-end of the top bunk where Sanji was sitting, closed his eyes and lowered his head. "He died…"

"What?" Nami asked, not believing what she just heard. Looking towards Sanji hoping he'd deny it, she felt a sharp pain in her chest as he refused to look her in the eyes. Staring at the ground as he merely continued to smoke his cigarette.

"Come on Zoro! That's not funny! There's no way Luffy would just die like that!" Usopp yelled. Angry that Zoro would make a joke like that and afraid that it might not be a joke at all.

"He's telling the truth, Usopp…" Sanji said as he tried lighting another cigarette. He had trouble with it however as his hands refused to stop shaking.

"I'm sorry." Zoro said. "We didn't make it in time. There was nothing we could do…" Zoro said as his hand tightened around his new cursed blade. 'Is this because of the curse? Did Luffy die because of you?' Zoro thought, looking at the blade, using his thumb to slide it slightly out of its scabbard. Watching his reflection in the steel he bit down on his lower lip in frustration. 'Is this the look of a man who couldn't protect his best friend?!' Zoro asked himself.

*gasp* Nami's eyes widened in shock, bringing her hands to her mouth. "Are you sure?! Did you see him… you know… I mean we all know how he is. Perhaps it only looked like he died and somehow survived." Nami hopefully said.

"I'm sorry Nami. But even Luffy isn't getting up after this one." Sanji said as he finally managed to light his cigarette, taking a long drag. "We watched his head being cut off. He ain't coming back."

"No way." Nami said as silent tears rolled down her face. Usopp on the other hand grieved loudly "LU~U~UFFY! WHY~Y~Y?! WEREN'T YOU GOING TO BE KING OF THE PIRATES?! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GO TO THE GRAND LINE WITHOUT YOU?!" Usopp cried.

Seeing the two of them cry over their captain's death, Sanji and Zoro could no longer keep their sadness bottled up inside and joined them as they cried. Sanji's upper body was shaking as he recalled Luffy always smiling and being happy, even more so when he ate the food he cooked.

Zoro was hiding his eyes behind his arm, trying to stay strong and wiping the tears away fruitlessly as they just kept coming.

Together the four remaining straw-hat pirates grieved for their dead captain a good 30 minutes. When a noise from upstairs startled them. It sounded like someone had burst into the bar above, knocking down several chairs and a table in the process.

*shushing noise* Nami shushed the others. "Listen." She whispered. They could hear a pair of feet moving around above them, followed by the sound of the secret entrance opening.

"The marines! Don't tell me they've already found us?!" Usopp asked, the normal present fear missing.

"That old man ratted us out! Damn him!" Sanji cursed.

All four got into a fighting position, Nami was holding a dagger, Usopp had his goggles over his eyes and his slingshot pulled back, ready to fire, Zoro's swords were drawn and Sanji had firmly planted his feet in the ground. "Let them come! We're ready!" Sanji said.

"Hold your fire!" the voice of Raoul sounded out around the corner. "I didn't sell you guys out! I swear! But it seems you'll have to share your hiding place I'm afraid." Raoul said as he appeared around the corner holding up none other than Spears D. John.

"(It's you! It's you! It's you! It's you!)" Nami, Usopp, Sanji and Zoro said at the same time.

"Help me put him on one of the beds over there!" Raoul said, with John's arm around his shoulder and neck, struggling to carry such a tall and heavy man at his age. Raoul couldn't carry the weight any more, his body wasn't able to handle it and they collapsed

Zoro and Sanji rushed forward, catching John before he fell to the ground. Without having to support the weight, Raoul recovered fine on his own.

"Oh my god! He's bleeding!" Nami yelled out as she saw him losing blood from the wound on the side of his head rapidly. "We have to do something!" Nami added. Everyone looked around at each other for a moment seeing if someone would volunteer.

When no-one did Usopp turned to Raoul, asking "Hey old man don't you know how to treat wounds like these?! I mean this is a hideout for pirates right?! Surely you must have some experience on what to do in these kinds of situation?!"

"Are you kidding me? The only treatment I've ever known and prescribed is alcohol! And my name isn't old man! It's Raoul!" Raoul replied.

"You guys are all useless!" Nami yelled as she turned around towards John. Using her dagger she started to cut into her T-shirt and rip it into long strips.

Wearing only her bra on her upper body, she turned her head towards the guys and started barking out orders. "Sanji! I need you to get me warm water, not boiling hot! Just warm!"

"Yeah! No problem!" Sanji responded and disappeared with a cooking pot.

"Raoul! I need a bottle of your strongest alcohol!"

"Huh? Oh! of course!" Raoul said as he ran back to his bar to get it.

"Usopp! I need you to prepare needle and thread! Make sure the needle is sterile!"

"R-Right!" Usopp said as he started digging in his satchel, using his goggles he focused on getting the thread through the eye of the needle.

"Zoro! Help me take off this heavy coat, and then fold it up underneath his head!" Nami ordered as she grabbed the unconscious Captain John by his shoulders and struggled to remove his coat by herself.

"On it!" Zoro replied as he helped Nami to get John out of the coat.

When the others returned, Nami first soaked one of the pieces of her shirt into the warm water. She then used it to clean the wound and remove the blood around it. A second, dry piece, was used to hold against the wound to keep it from bleeding freely, she then reached for the bottle of alcohol and pulled the cork out with her teeth. Pouring the liquor onto the wound as she removed the temporary bandage, john stirred at the sting of the alcohol.

She knew how much that hurt but it was necessary to disinfect the wound. She continued by using the needle and thread to sew up the wound. When John had blocked Smoker's attack with that sword earlier he had prevented it from bashing his skull in. But the blow had pushed the blade to cut into the side of his head, leaving a nasty cut.

As she finished tying up the end of the thread, she bit into the thread, leaving some sloppy but still practically done stitches.

"It's done!" Nami sighed. "He'll be okay. But he's lost a lot of blood." She said as she pulled a new shirt from one of the bags and put it on. "Can't we do a blood transfusion or something?" Zoro asked.

"No! You idiot! We don't know if our blood is compatible and I don't know how to perform a blood transfusion! Do you?!" Nami yelled making Zoro sweat a bit. "Sorry." He said.

"Anyway. The best thing we can do right now is wait, and pray that he makes it through. If he does he'll need something to get his strength up though." Nami explained.

"Leave that up to me! I owe him one for sponsoring me in the cooking contest, today!" Sanji said as he rolled up his sleeves and grabbed the Blue-finned elephant tuna. "I'll prepare the tastiest, most nutritious meal you've ever had!" Sanji said giving everyone a huge smile.

"So he's the one that paid your entrance fee?" Usopp asked. "Yeah, didn't you know? I thought you did, considering you all seemed to recognize him." Sanji said.

"No! I met him when he saved me from being killed by Daddy the father!" Usopp said.

"Yeah, that's how I met him too." Nami said, jumping into the conversation. "Usopp somehow got himself into a duel with Daddy the father. And right before the duel was about to start we all heard a gunshot. Next thing I know, Usopp is lying dead on the ground and this guy claims that he shot Usopp for Luffy's bounty!" Nami explained.

"Wait! Hold on a second! If this guy was after Luffy's bounty then why did he shoot Usopp?!" Zoro asked.

"He didn't shoot me, but I told Daddy that I was Luffy to scare him off, but it didn't exactly turn out as I planned and that's how I ended up in that duel!" Usopp interjected.

"Right!" Nami said continuing to explain. "So, everyone thought Usopp was dead, including me! This guy even managed to disarm Daddy by shooting his hand! I went after him when he dragged Usopp's body away. I caught up with him in an alleyway where they explained the whole thing to me." Nami finished her explanation.

"How about you Zoro?" Usopp asked. "You seem to know him as well?"

"I met him inside the arms shop where I bought these swords." Zoro said tapping the two new katana at his waist. "He got into an argument with this woman, Tashigi. She's a commander with the marines under Captain Smoker." Zoro explained.

"He called her naïve and started ranting about how the marines weren't as pure as she made them out to be. He accused them of murder and extortion of the innocent. We had a short conversation afterwards, I would say he's a decent enough guy. He even invited me to join his crew." Zoro finished.

"His crew?" Nami asked curiously. "You mean he's a pirate? He does kinda look like one, but then again he doesn't at the same time." Nami thought out loud.

"I'm not sure whether he's a pirate or not. He didn't exactly come out and say it." Zoro said.

"Of course he's a pirate! I wouldn't have let him in otherwise!" Raoul spoke up. "How can you be so sure?" Nami asked. "He recognized the engraving at the side of the door." Raoul stated.

…

*silence*

…

*sigh* "Pirates have secret ways to communicate with one another! For example… I have three small circles engraved into the doorframe of my bar outside. Those represent three bullets and they have a meaning. It means, if you are a wanted pirate and are running from the marines you can take shelter here." Raoul explained. "There are a bunch of other signs as well, I figured that you didn't know them seeing as you ran right past my bar." Raoul sighed.

"I never knew…" Nami whispered. "Hey Raoul, do you think you can teach me those secret ways to communicate?" Nami asked.

"I'm sorry but I can't. These languages are passed down by pirates only." Raoul began to explain. "The only way for you to learn about it is to be taught by a pirate who already knows about it. Some ask for gold in exchange for the knowledge, others demand that you first serve a year as an underling." Raoul finished.

"If you want to know so badly you should ask him," Raoul said pointing at the unconscious John. "if he makes it that is. Anyway, you should all get some rest or go look around a bit. There are plenty of rooms that you can use for different things." Raoul said before turning around and heading back up to his bar.

"I guess I better get started on this fish then…" Sanji said readjusting the fish on his shoulder.

"I'm gonna go find a room so I can train…" Zoro said.

"Nami? If you wanna go out I can stay here to look after… him… for a while." Usopp offered.

"No that's fine… I'll go check things out later… you go ahead and take a look around." Nami said smiling.

 _Loguetown/Hospital/Marines, Smoker, Tashigi_

Tashigi was sitting on a wooden chair outside of the operating room. Her head down with her hair covering her eyes. "Captain…" She whispered.

It had been two hours since they had brought Captain Smoker in and they had immediately rushed him to the O.R. (Operating Room). Tashigi's hands were lying flat on her knees, her arms straight. Her open palms balled into fists, clenching at the fabric of her pants. Her lips separated to form a pain filled growl of sorts.

'Next time I meet that pirate I'll…' but she couldn't think of anything. She simply wasn't strong enough, she had to become stronger.

Tashigi's thoughts were interrupted when the doors to the O.R. opened and the doctor came out. Taking off his gloves and mouth mask, he turned to Tashigi and said "You'll be glad to hear that he's going to make a full recovery. It took a while for us to locate the piece of Sea-prism stone, but we were able to remove it. As for the stab wound…"

The doctor took a deep breath.

"There's going to be a nasty scar, but the muscle tissue underneath should heal to be as good as new." The doctor finished.

"Thank you doctor." Tashigi bowed, showing her gratitude.

"It's no problem, but I'd like you to answer a question for me, if you could?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, of course. Whatever you need." Tashigi said eagerly.

The doctor nodded and began to explain. "you see, this was our first time operating on a patient with logia type powers, so we made an assumption that, in hindsight, we shouldn't have."

The doctor paused for a moment.

"We assumed that when we removed the sea-prism stone from the patient's body his wound would heal on its own. But it did not, instead the injury remained and we had to tend to the injury ourselves. Now if we'd known that would happen in the first place, we would have made the stab wound our first priority." The doctor continued to explain.

"So what I want to ask is whether there have been similar incidents like this documented? Because that knowledge could have made the difference between life and death." The doctor asked.

"Not that I know of. But I could contact headquarters and ask about it." Tashigi offered.

"Yes, I think you should. This may or may not have been the first incident of its kind, but won't be the last! Having this knowledge could benefit doctors all over the world." The doctor persuaded.

"Can I see him?" Tashigi asked. "Not right now. He needs his rest. But tomorrow morning he'll be able to receive visitors."

"Thank you! I'll report what you've told me to headquarters immediately then." Tashigi said and left for the marine base.

 _Loguetown/Gold Roger Bar/Straw-hats_

[With Sanji]

It had been forty-five minutes since he'd started preparing dinner for everyone and was now finished.

Sanji had cut of the fish's fins and made soup with it. 'In times like these you need something warm and liquid to comfort the soul.' Sanji thought thinking of his comrades. 'And it's perfect for patients who need to regain their strength.' His thoughts continued as he picked up the large pot of soup and several bowls.

The rest of the fish had been salted to help preserve it.

Sanji waddled out of the kitchen area in a good mood carrying the large pot when he suddenly heard Nami yell. "Nami?! I'm coming!" he yelled as he ran back towards the sleeping quarters with the pot and bowls still in his arms.

[With Usopp]

Usopp had been looking around the underground tunnels and rooms and discovered that the floor was covered with gunpowder so he decided to grab a broom and started sweeping everything up. Afterwards he separated the dirt and dust from the gunpowder and stored it away.

'free gunpowder. I won't say no to that. They must have stored barrels full of this stuff down here a long time ago and little bits must have landed on the floor.' Usopp thought as he looked at the large beer glass he had filled with the gunpowder.

Putting a lid on the beer glass he almost dropped it when he heard Nami yell. After he carefully put it away he rushed down the hallways to get to Nami as quick as possible.

[With Zoro]

Zoro had found a training room with enough space for him to swing his swords around freely, but walls of the room held many weights for him to train with. He had to make some changes seeing as the weights didn't quite do anything for him as they were.

But he figured out a way to add several slabs of metal on a single halter. He continued to train for thirty minutes before deciding to take a nap.

A couple of minutes later he was woken up by the sound of Nami yelling, so he grabbed his swords and ran back to the sleeping quarters.

[with Nami]

Nami had stayed by the mysterious man's side and had been trying to come up with a plan to get their ship back and make their way to the grand line. But then another thought had hit her, 'What if they didn't want to go to the grand line anymore? For that matter… do I still want to go?' She didn't know maybe it would be best if they all returned home.

Sanji would probably go back to Baratïé and continue to be a cook.

Usopp would go back to Syrup village.

And she would go back to Cocoyasi village and live with her sister and grow tangerines.

And Zoro… she didn't know where Zoro lived actually, however she couldn't see him returning home. No, most likely he would keep going forward on his own. His dream to be the best swordsman in the world was just as strong as Luffy's and he had set out on his own long before he met Luffy.

Sanji, Usopp and her however had all been persuaded to join by Luffy so she wasn't sure whether they'd stay or not.

Nami had been walking around the room, pacing back and forth, thinking, planning, worrying and second guessing herself until she went and sat down on the side of John's bed.

The added weight on top of the matrass woke John up, seeing someone sitting beside him he reached out and grabbed her wrist.

When Nami felt a hand wrap around her wrist, it startled her and she jumped up of the bed yelling in surprise.

*groan* John groaned as he pushed himself into a sitting position on top of the bed. Clutching at his head to feel it wrapped in bandages, he closed his eyes and tried to recall what had happened.

Several seconds later three men showed up in the opening of the room.

"Nami! Are you alright?! What happened?!" Sanji asked as he put down the pot with soup and ran over to check whether Nami was okay.

Zoro had his hands on his swords and Usopp had his goggles down, his slingshot in his left hand and a bullet in his right.

"I'm fine… he just woke up and startled me is all." Nami explained getting up and walking back to the side of the bed, kneeling down she looked at John and said. "Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"Except for a massive headache, I'm fine, thanks… who are? Wait! I know you! you're that girl that was with the slingshot kid!" John said.

"Yes, that's right. My name is Nami." She said calmly.

"It's nice to see you again Nami, my name is John. Spears D. John." John said.

"So… you are a pirate." Nami hesitantly stated.

"Former pirate…*sigh*" John corrected. "Unfortunately my crew has been exterminated and my ship's been sunk to the bottom of the bay. I can't be much of a pirate captain without a crew or a ship." John sadly confessed.

As Nami listened to his confession an idea popped into her head and she turned to glance at the guys behind her. They all caught the glint in her eye and immediately understood her intentions, but whether they fully agreed with her was a different matter.

Seeing their hesitation she quickly turned back to John and before any of the others could say something stupid she opened her mouth and asked "We were just about to have dinner. Would you like to join us?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, sure. Thanks." John rambled.

"Sanji, pour the man a bowl of… whatever you've made for us. I think a warm meal would do him some good." she said. Her voice sounding normal, but her face promising extreme pain to those that didn't comply.

"Of course Nami, my love!" Sanji said with hearts in his eyes. He hurried over to the pot and poured a bowl of soup for John, handed it over to Usopp who passed it to Nami who gently handed it over to John. Sanji continued to pour bowls for the rest as well, one bowl remained empty. Sanji wasn't sure whether Raoul would be back down or not so he'd grabbed a sixth bowl just in case.

"Are the two of you together?" John asked hearing the way Sanji spoke about her. "You know… like a couple." He clarified after seeing Nami looking at him confused.

"What?! No! no, absolutely not! He's just like that with all women!" Nami burst out, setting the record straight before she handed a bowl over to him.

John took the bowl of soup from Nami with a grateful nod and waited until everyone had their portion.

'At least the guy has good table manners.' Sanji thought.

Zoro and Usopp dug into their own bowls without a word. Nami took in the smell of the soup and complimented "It smells great Sanji!" and then she took a spoonful and moaned blissfully. "I'm so glad you like it Nami, dear!" Sanji said swaying back and forth.

John put the bowl down on his lap for a moment and brought his hands together, saying "I'm grateful for the food!" and lifted the bowl again.

"Are you a believer or something? Kind of strange for a pirate!" Zoro mumbled with a full mouth.

"Watch your manners moss-head!" Sanji yelled with fire in his eyes, causing a fight between the two to erupt.

"I'm not a believer, no. I'm not saying grace to a god if that is what you're thinking. I'm sending a prayer of gratitude to the people that made this meal possible, seeing that there is fish in this soup I'm sending my gratitude to the fisherman that caught the fish. Also to the farmer that grew these carrots and last but not least the chef that prepared it." John explained sending a grateful nod towards Sanji who had momentarily paused mid-fight to accept the compliment.

John raised the spoon to his mouth but before he could take a single bite his vision became blurry and his head started to hurt really bad. Dropping the spoon and clutching at his head for the pain to ease up.

Nami quickly grabbed the bowl before it fell and worriedly bend over John to make sure he was okay. After the pain faded away, John raised his head up to see everyone looking worried for his sake. He raised a hand up to motion that he was fine but Nami interjected saying "Oh my god you're bleeding!" and she quickly brought a handkerchief up under his nose.

John brought his hand up and rubbed underneath his nose, and indeed. A smudge of red could be seen on the back of his hand. "Well… that can't be good." he said.

"You need to see a doctor!" Nami panicked.

"Yes I do! But not on this island! Not unless I want to get caught by the marines. And definitely not after I stabbed Smoker and left him for dead." John calmed her down. "Right now the marines think I beat their commanding officer without taking any serious damage myself, I can use that to my advantage. If I walk into a hospital right now it would be the same as saying that I'm weak enough to be captured." John explained.

"But you could die!" Nami replied. "That's one of the risks of being a pirate." Zoro said knowingly.

"I'm fine right now, so don't worry about me. As soon as I get to a different island I'll be able to see a doctor but for now I just need to hold out." John said. Nami wasn't happy with it but she knew they were right, it was just another risk for any pirate. "Here, let me help you." She said as she grabbed the bowl and spoon and started feeding him. John felt kinda embarrassed but gave in and took his first bite of the absolutely most delicious food he'd ever tasted.

After everyone had their fill they simply relaxed around the room. Something had been bugging John for a while now and he finally figured out what it was so he turned to Nami and asked "Can I ask you something?" "Yeah sure go ahead." She said. "You're all pirates, right?" "Yes that's right."

"Ok, Now I have to ask… who is your captain? I mean, after all that talking we did over dinner I've gotten to know all of you a bit better and… something just didn't feel right and I finally figured out what it was. None of you actually act like a captain, you all treat each other like equals. I just don't see any of you in a leading role over the others, why is that?" John asked.

Nami bit on her lower lip and the others just lowered their head or turned away. "Was it something I said?" John asked. "We just lost our captain." Nami explained. "He was executed in the central plaza, you might have heard about it." Zoro said.

John's eyes widened. "You guys are the straw-hat pirates…" John stated, figuring it all out now. "Former straw-hat pirates." Usopp copied John's line from earlier trying to make the mood a little better.

"I can't believe it… don't take this the wrong way! I'm sure your captain was a good friend of yours and he meant a lot to all of you, but… your captain has to be the dumbest, most care-free, idiotic airhead in the WORLD!" John said with a little resentment seeping through his voice.

The response he got from all of them was mixed at best. All of them definitely didn't appreciate him insulting their deceased friend, but they also didn't seem to be able to disagree with his description of the man.

"I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but… I can't really prove it as I have no idea how things would have played out if your captain hadn't done what he did, but… his actions might have been the cause that lead to the destruction of my ship and the extermination of my crew." John clarified.

"If that is true than we apologize, our captain has always been kind of an idiot. He didn't think about the repercussions of his actions and mostly just jumped head first into things." Sanji said.

"I see. Ironic isn't it." John said. "None of us can continue our journey, you guys being a crew without a captain and me being a captain without a crew. Not to mention that neither of us has a ship anymore." John said laughing at the situation they were in.

"Actually… we still have our ship." Nami hesitantly said. "The thing is the Marines captured it." Usopp added.

"Hold on! You're ship is still intact?!" John asked perplexed. "We're not sure, but the last time we saw it the merry was still fully intact. The marines had boarded her and sailed her into one of the docks." Usopp pointed out.

"I think I know what's going on here." John said looking at Nami. "You're a cunning one, I'll give you that." John said smiling at her, having figured out the girls motives. "So… am I right to assume that you want me to join your crew?" John asked. "What if I did?" Nami asked.

"Well, first I'd ask which position you'd want me to fill. Seeing as I absolutely refuse to be a cabin boy!" John said.

"Well, I guess I would like for you to take over the position as captain, seeing as that spot has recently been made vacant." Nami continued to tease in their so called hypothetical situation.

"What?! If anyone should be captain it should be me! Captaaaaain Usopp, brave warrior of the sea! Mhahaha!" Usopp intervened standing up and placing his left foot on top of the bed, putting his hands on his hips and throwing his head back laughing.

"Don't mind him." Nami said waving Usopp's actions off. "So, in all seriousness, what do you think?"

"I think that if I'm supposed to be the captain, shouldn't you be joining my crew instead?" John asked. "I mean, it wouldn't make a lot of sense if I joined the straw-hat pirates as their new captain if the person known for his straw hat already died. Instead you should join the Spear Pirates!" John replied.

The straw-hats seemed reluctant at first to give up their name as straw-hat pirates, but realized that John was right about the subject of who should be joining who.

"Okay, we've decided that we'll join your crew and become Spear Pirates!" Nami said to John after they had taken a moment to discuss the decision.

"Great, now all that's left is for you to take your oaths as Spear Pirates and tomorrow morning we'll get your ship back and set sail for the grand-line!" John raised his voice, pumping his fist into the air, expecting a cheer from them. Instead they remained rather silent.

"What do you mean when you say oath?" Sanji asked. "Oh that's right! I used to have a rather large crew, so I didn't really get to know each and every one of my crewmates personally. So I had them take an oath to solidify their loyalty to me and the crew." John explained. "Just repeat after me!"

"I hereby swear to follow my captain wherever he may go. I swear to destroy his enemies and drink in his name. I will advise my captain when needed, but will never disobey his orders. When in danger, I will not allow my fear to prevent me from aiding my captain and comrades. I swear to improve myself so I may further contribute to the strength of this crew! With this oath I now join the Spear Pirates!" John conveyed the oath to them. "It changed over time as new members joined so it may be different for the next person who joins, but the idea remains the same." John finished.

The crew thought it over and couldn't find anything wrong with the oath and so all four took the oath and became the newly formed Spear Pirates.

 _ **End chapter 2: Crew without captain! Captain without crew!**_

I finished it! this chapter took a long time but I got it done. Unfortunately the next one will have to wait a lot longer because my other stories are being neglected.

Please follow, favorite and leave a review.


	3. C3 Escape from Loguetown

**One Piece! Captain Spears D. John!**

 _ **Chapter 3: Escape from Loguetown!**_

 _Gold Roger bar/1 o'clock in the morning._

Nami, Usopp, Sanji and Zoro; the four, former, straw-hat pirates had all taken their oath. Having abandoned their former life as straw-hats, they were now initiated into the spear pirates.

Having listened to them taking their oath, John smiled and said "As your captain I welcome you all to my crew. Each and every one of you had their own reasons to set out to sea. And as your captain I will support those reasons for as long as you continue to support mine. This, I solemnly swear!" John promised to them.

Hearing him make that promise caused them all to grin widely. Maybe this guy was going to be okay.

"Before we celebrate the rebirth of the spear pirates I'd like to know exactly why the four of you set out to sea." John said as he gave them all a curious look.

Usopp was the first to reply, saying "I set sail so I could become a brave warrior of the sea!" John nodded at hearing the young man's dream. 'He seems kind of cowardly but he definitely has the will to change that.' John thought.

"I want to make a map off the entire world!" Nami said, memories of her childhood and her sister Nojiko and adoptive mother Bell-mère flashing through her mind. 'A map of the entire world?! No one has ever been able to even come close to doing something like that. That might be a difficult dream to help her with.' John thought, but nodded none the less. He then looked over towards Sanji and Zoro.

Zoro wasn't going to say anything, so Sanji sighed, breathing out a stream of smoke, before saying. "To be honest I have at least two dreams I want to realize. Firstly I want to go to fish-man island and be surrounded by beautiful mermaid ladies!" Sanji shouted as he hugged himself, while his eyes turned into hearts and his nostrils flared, making kissing movements with his lips.

Seeing the cook acting like a love-sick perverted puppy caused John to smile nervously at the man as he started to sweat-drop. But that changed when Sanji turned serious all of a sudden.

"But, the real reason I set out with Luffy was so I could one day find the ALL BLUE!" Sanji said.

'The all blue? I think I've heard about that before but I'm not certain about what it is exactly, I'll have to ask later.' John thought, and once more nodded in agreement. "What about you?" He asked looking towards Zoro.

Zoro flashed one of his demon grins as if he'd found an opponent worth fighting and said "Unlike these guys my dream is rather simple really… I'm going to be the greatest swordsman in the world!" Zoro stated.

"The greatest swordsman heh? Well there's not much I can do to help you achieve that dream except for being your sparring partner once in a while… is that okay with you?" John asked with a smile.

Zoro's own smile turned from a demonic one into a much kinder one. A smile you would send to a friend you haven't seen for a while. "that's fine by me… captain." Zoro said, finishing his sentence with the word "captain", signifying that he already accepted the man as his new captain.

"Perfect! Then there are some things I'd like to ask about these dreams of yours before we come up with a plan to get off of this island. Firstly, Usopp… just like Zoro, you are the only one who can really make your dream come true, but I'll help wherever I can." John said.

Secondly, Nami… do you plan on making a map of every single island yourself which you plan to use to make your fully made map of the world? Or are you planning on using already existing maps combined with your own? After all, you can't really trust a map that has the marines stamp of approval to be one hundred percent accurate! They sometimes alter maps to keep certain locations secret or hidden from the common people." John said.

"Honestly I was planning on using already existing maps… but now that I've heard you saying that… I know that there is no way that none of the marines maps haven't been altered. So I guess I'll do both. I'll make a map of my own and compare it to the maps which have been approved by the world government." Nami replied.

"I see." John commented.

"Now thirdly, Sanji… what is this all blue you're trying to find? I think I've heard the name before but I can't recall what it is."

Sanji then began explaining everything he knew about the all blue.

"So basically… the all blue is a place somewhere on earth where the North, South, East and West blue meet and contains fish that are normally only found in those four seas?" John asked.

"Exactly." Sanji confirmed. "I'm sorry if this puts a damper on your dream of finding this place… but I have to say that the all blue sounds more like a fairy tale to me. I mean, if you think about it, it should be impossible. First of all the salt percentage of each sea is different, even if it's only by a little bit, there are a lot of fish that can't survive outside of their usual habitat." John said to Sanji.

"I know that." Sanji said as he bowed his head, causing his hair to obscure his eyes. "I know more about fish than anyone else in the east blue… I know it should be impossible, but… but owner Zeff always told me that the Grand-line doesn't follow logic. He always told me that on the grand-line the impossible was possible and that if the all blue was anywhere it would be there." Sanji said as he raised his voice with every word, defending his dream. "You may think that the all blue is nothing more than a fairy tale, but deep inside of me I know that it's real!" Sanji shouted, causing his cigarette to fall to the floor.

Instead of being met by a glare or disbelief like he had first thought, Sanji watched as John smiled at his conviction. Swinging his legs out of the bed, John forced himself to stand up and walk towards Sanji. Standing only two feet away from the blond chef, John placed his left hand firmly on the man's right shoulder and looked him in the eyes before saying "That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I'm glad because I was afraid that once we got out on the grand-line you might one day give up on your dream and decide to leave the crew. Now that I know how deep your determination goes, I can safely say that that won't be happening."

"Hold on! You were testing him?" Nami asked. "Yes, after all… when I heard that stuff about the mermaids I wasn't sure I could take him serious anymore. I needed to know that he was dedicated to this journey. On top of that, finding a mermaid isn't a very difficult goal to accomplish." John said.

"it's not!" Usopp asked. "Of course not, there are plenty of mermaids on the grand-line. Finding one isn't easy of course, but it's not impossible either." John replied.

"Wuuuooooh! Mermaid ladies there's no need to fear with Sanji right here!" Sanji yelled.

"Shut up!" Nami said as she hit him on top of the head. "Anyway, you've heard our reasons for setting out for the grand line and our dreams. So can we come up with a plan to get the going merry back so we can get out of this town?!" Nami pleaded.

"Sure, let's get started on that plan." John smiled at her. "Hey wait a second! What about you? Why did you decide to be a pirate? Is it to find the legendary one piece and become king of the pirates?" Usopp asked.

"No! God no!" John replied. "Huh?! It's not?! Then why did you?" Nami asked.

…

*silence*

…

"Revenge…" John said, his voice having taken on a tone of pure hatred. "…On the world government and its nobles." Sanji raised a brow at this and Zoro put his guard back up, knowing what vengeance could do to a man.

"But let's not talk about that for now. I promise that one day I'll tell you all the full story, but I'm not going to share my life story with a bunch of strangers. Even if you're all part of my crew." John explained.

"We understand. You can take your time and tell us when you're ready." Nami said.

"Thanks…" John said with a grateful smile. "… now that that's out of the way let's focus on the plan."

The five Spear pirates huddles together in a circle and began planning their escape, each member sharing what they knew and what had to be done. They stayed up well into the early hours of the morning, perfecting their plan, until the sun rose over the ocean's horizon.

 _Loguetown/marine base/7:42 morning._

Master Chief Petty Officer Tashigi was sitting behind Captain Smoker's desk as acting commander while Smoker was recovering she was forced to take over all of his duties at the moment. That meant that right now she was surrounded by mountains of paperwork.

Paperwork that made sure that everything continued to operate smoothly. Paperwork pertaining to the marines salaries, paperwork dealing with issues from the citizens in town, paperwork from headquarters demanding immediate attention, paperwork dealing with the base's supply of munition and food, and last but not least paperwork for dealing with the pirates that were captured or killed during yesterday's events.

Somewhere in the pile of paperwork was a document that had actually needed to be dealt with immediately by Captain Smoker, but since he got injured he couldn't do anything and so it became lost and forgotten in the ever growing pile of paperwork.

If Tashigi hadn't panicked at the moment she laid eyes on the pile of papers she would have noticed a document allowing for two marine units to bring up the wreck of the Crimson Crown that had been sunk in the harbor last night, unfortunately she did panic and now it lay underneath a large stack of papers.

"I can't do this… *sob sob sob* … captain Smoker, please help! *sob sob sob*" Tashigi cried, being overwhelmed by all of the work.

"Commander Tashigi!" a marine yelled as he burst into the office. "NO! PLEASE! NO MORE WORK! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE…!" Tashigi broke down crying.

"Uh? No... it's not that… I…" The marine was caught off guard by Tashigi's sudden outburst. Quickly recovering though, he straightened his back and saluted his superior officer. "Commander Tashigi, I'm here to report that Captain Smoker has woken up and is strong enough to have visitors!" the marine reported.

"The Captain?! I'm going there right now! Watch the base while I'm gone!" Tashigi ordered as she put on her jacket and grabbed her katana and disappeared out the door. The marine smiled at the sight of his commanding officer being in high spirits again until he took a look at the desk and started to panic.

Outside, in front of the base, the marine could be seen running out the front door holding something in his hand above his head, while yelling "Commander Tashigi! Please come back! You forgot your glasses!" as he ran after her.

 _Loguetown/hospital/8:02 in the morning._

When Tashigi arrived at the hospital she was immediately guided to Smoker's recovery room.

*knock-knock* "Captain Smoker, sir?" Tashigi hesitantly asked as she knocked on the door.

"…Enter." Smoker's voice came from the other side.

As she opened the door and stepped into the room she took notice of the fact that her superior was wearing a hospital gown and that his usual white jacket was neatly folded over a chair in a corner near the window.

"How are you feeling captain?" Tashigi asked as she went to stand by his bedside.

"Like I could use a good cigar! That damn nurse refuses to hand me my cigars and the doctor won't allow me to get out of bed!" Smoker complained.

"That isn't what I meant Captain!" Tashigi scolded. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Just hand me my cigars first, I really need one right about now." Smoker replied.

Smiling at seeing her captain was acting like his usual self, she walked over to the chair in the corner. After a couple of moments of searching she turned to face smoker with a confused and apologetic expression on her face.

"Uhm, Smoker, sir? I can't seem to find them." she said. "They should be in my left breast-pocket!" Smoker said. "I already checked, they aren't there."

*Back with the Spear pirates*

"Alright! Is everybody ready?" John asked.

"[Ready!]" Zoro, Sanji, Nami and Usopp replied.

"Then let's commence operation: Get our shit and get out!" at his words the four ex-straw-hat pirates split off and started walking away, leaving John behind.

Before heading off himself, John brought out a cigar and a lighter from out of nowhere. Lighting the cigar, John took a couple puffs off of it before nodding, thinking 'not bad'.

John then dropped it and stepped on it as he headed out himself.

*Back with Smoker and Tashigi*

"THAT BASTARD! HE MUST HAVE TAKEN THEM WHEN HE STABBED ME! I'LL KILL HIM!" Smoker yelled as he began thrashing around in his bed.

"Captain Smoker, sir! Please stop that! You're still recovering!" Tashigi yelled as she rushed over to keep him in his bed.

It took a couple minutes and 2 nurses to calm Smoker down. In the meantime, Tashigi had ordered one of the marines standing guard, outside to go get Smoker's cigars from his office.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that…" Smoker apologized to his second in command. "That's alright captain." Tashigi comforted him.

*sigh* Smoker took a deep breath before sighing and turning serious. "Master Chief Petty Officer Tashigi?!" Smoker addressed her with her full rank. Tashigi reacted by becoming completely serious herself and saluting.

"Report on everything that has happened since my fight with that damn pirate!" Smoker ordered.

"Sir, Yes sir!" Tashigi replied, before taking a deep breath and starting her report. "After your defeat at the hands of pirate captain Spears D. John, due to loss of moral we shamefully allowed John to simply walk away. Following that I prioritized your immediate care over that of capturing the pirates still at large and I ordered the soldiers to take you to, and notify the hospital." Tashigi paused to breathe.

"When you were safely brought to the Operating Room I decided to have the soldiers search the town in small groups, armed with signal flares to signal the others in case they spotted the pirates. The Straw-hat pirates have so far disappeared completely off of our radar. However, one group of marines used one of their signal flares. I was later informed that they had spotted John walking through the alleyways in the northern part of town, but he disappeared immediately after and we haven't seen him since."

"Did you say, in the northern part of town?" Smoker asked. "Yes, why?" Tashigi asked. "I believe I know where they might be hiding out. Call in the marine standing guard outside!" Smoker ordered.

"Guard! Can you please come in here for a second?!" Tashigi called out.

"What can I do for you two, Sir?!" the marine saluted. Smoker raised his hand to point at the man and said "Go back to base and assemble a squad, fully armed and head to the Gold Roger Bar in the northern part of town. Search the place from top to bottom, arrest the owner if you have to. Also… there's probably a hidden room or cellar or something. Now go!" Smoker said, giving his orders.

"Sir, yes Sir!" and with that the marine left.

"Continue your report, Petty Officer." Smoker said. "huh? Ah! Yes sir! Before the signal flare alerted us to the sighting of John Spears, Unit 1 and 3 came back reporting their success at sinking the Spear pirates their ship and capturing the straw-hats' ship. They put it in dry-dock #3 and locked the doors. Afterwards, I remembered the buggy pirates you personally caught and had them put in the jail-cells underneath the base. I personally saw to it that they were locked up and placed a guard nearby to keep an eye on them."

"What about Straw-hat's body? Were you able to recover it?" Smoker asked.

"No, I'm afraid that the pirates were somehow able to come back to the execution ground and retrieve the body, because when the marines arrived there was no trace of him to be found anywhere."

"Good work Tashigi." Smoker said. "Thank you captain, but… you see…" Tashigi hesitated. "Spit it out already!" Smoker shouted. "I'm so sorry, but I made a mess out of your office! I never knew you had to deal with so much paperwork! And since you weren't able to fill out all those documents, that job now fell to me and there was just so much and I tried really hard but then there was even more paperwork and I worked as fast as I could but then there was even more paperwork and I, I, I-Whèèèèèèh!" Tashigi started out slowly going faster and faster, until tears started appearing in her eyes and she eventually broke down crying.

"Tashigi! Pull yourself together!" Smoker shouted. Taking several deep breaths, Tashigi was able to calm down and wipe away her tears.

"I'm sorry captain… I don't know what came over me…" Tashigi said as she regained her composure.

"That's alright, it's my fault for not preparing you for such an emergency." Smoker said, blaming himself for his foolishness. "If I had followed protocol I would have kept you informed on all of my duties in case I was ever incapacitated. I never did because I never imagined I'd be defeated like this." Smoker explained.

"Most of the pirates that come through here, seeking to head to the grand-line, are nothing more than scum. But HE… he was different. He was prepared, he knows what lies ahead and he knows he can handle it." Smoker thought out loud.

"Captain?! You can't be serious? Are you actually praising the man that did this to you?!" Tashigi asked incredulously.

"I…" Smoker was about to reply but was cut off by the marine that was sent to retrieve his cigars.

" _Captain Smoke~~~~r! The straw-hats! They-they… they've attacked the base!"_ the marine yelled, having fallen to his knees in the doorway.

" **THEY WHAT?!"** Smoker demanded.

" _The straw-hats invaded the base and are keeping anyone from getting in or out!"_ the marine explained. _"They seem to be under the command of Spears D. John, Captain!"_ the marine finished his explanation.

"This doesn't make any sense! Why would he attack when he could be making his escape instead?" Smoker tried to figure out the man's motives. "Wait! Tashigi!" Smoker shouted towards his second in command as she grabbed Shigure and ran out the door, jumping over her kneeling subordinate in the doorway, and skidding to a stop in the hallway before taking off running towards the base.

"Dammit Tashigi!" Smoker cursed. "You! Get me a Transponder Snail! ASAP!" Smoker ordered the man.

"Sir, yes sir!" the man hurried to his feet to salute before leaving the room in search of a transponder snail.

 _Loguetown/marine base/08:35 in the morning_

So far the plan has been a huge success. Wearing grey raincoats, the newly reformed spear pirates were able to get to the marine base unnoticed. Nami had reached her position on top of the clock tower where she had a perfect view of the marine base and the streets around it. If any reinforcements were to arrive, she would let the rest of the group know through the mini transponder snail on her wrist.

Each member of the newly reformed spear pirates was wearing one, a gift from their new captain, which he kept stored in his pocket dimension.

*10 minutes earlier!*

-This is Pinwheel, can you hear me? Over!-

-Pinwheel, this is Crown! I hear you loud and clear! Over!-

-You have a green light! I repeat you have a green light! Over!-

-Roger that! We're going in! Over and out!-

Nami kept herself hidden inside the shadows of the clock tower as she observed the rest of the team make their way into the marine base through her binoculars.

Back in front of the marine base, Zoro was getting agitated by the fact that they were all forced to use codenames when they were talking to one another during the operation. Which he made crystal clear when he grabbed his new captain's shoulder and asked, "Why the hell do we have to use these stupid codenames? Why can't we just use our normal names, huh?"

"Because it might jeopardize the entire operation before it has a chance to begin! If the marines picked up on our frequency and heard one of our names they would be on high alert in an instant! Now shut up and do as I say!" John whispered angrily.

"I don't understand why these mini transponder snails you gave use were frozen in ice! My wrist feels like it's going to get frostbite!" Usopp complained.

"I don't understand why Nami has to be so far away from us why couldn't she come with us?" Sanji complained.

"*sigh* these transponder snails are living creatures. I can store away anything in my pocket dimension as long as it's not alive! That's why I had them frozen. When frozen they're in a dead-like state and I can easily store them away, when take them out all I have to do is thaw them out and they're as good as new." John explained to Usopp.

"As for Nami, someone has to be the lookout and she was the best one for the job." John explained just before the group was stopped several meters inside of the base by one of the marine soldiers.

"Excuse me, can I help you? Our service desk is back and to your left if you'd like to report a crime or file a complaint." The marine informed the four cloaked figures in front of him. He wasn't foolish as he had his guard up in front of this suspicious group.

"Ah! Thank you for the information, but I'm not exactly here to report a crime, rather I'm here to commit one." John replied, confusing the man in front of him for a second. A second was all he needed.

As the marine came to understand what he'd just said, John called forth a pistol, saying "pocket pocket pistol!" and shot the man in his abdomen.

*Bang!*

The loud noise from the gunshot was heard through the entire base and everything turned to chaos. The marine bent over, clutching at his stomach as he started to bleed. The woman sitting behind the service desk let out a high pitched scream at the sight of the murder taking place in front of her. The sound of a bell being rung could be heard coming from further ahead as the entire base was called to arms.

A smile formed on John's face as he basked in the chaos he was causing, before turning towards the two men behind him and said, "I hope you haven't forgotten your roles in all of this?"

"Don't worry, I remember!" Zoro said as he took off his cloak and drew two swords, one of which he placed in his mouth, allowing him to draw his third and final sword. The piece of cloth he usually wore around his arm already tied to his head, Zoro took off running, further into the base. Zoro's task was to make sure that none of the marines would disturb John and Usopp during their task.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, don't let anyone through no matter what!" Sanji said as he dropped his own cloak and headed back the way they came to guard the front door. Most of the marines were still patrolling in the city, that's why Sanji was tasked with keeping any reinforcements out of the base until Usopp and John were finished with their task.

"Okay, let's go! While Zoro takes care of the marines still inside the base, Sanji will take care of any marines returning to the base." John said as he pulled Usopp around the corner to the left. Continuing down the halls, following the signs that said "holding cells".

*10 minutes have passed*

*We have caught up with time*

After that everything seemed to go smoothly. Zoro was making short work of the marines inside of the base, Sanji had yet to encounter any returning marines and Nami hadn't spotted any returning marines as of yet.

-This is Crown to Mossman! Mossman come in! Over!-

-Stop calling me that!-

-Mossman, how are things looking up there with you? over!-

-I'm almost finished!- Zoro said as he cut down another marine that charged at him. –only eight left before I'm done up here!-

-Understood! When you're done up there join Mr. Prince at the front door! Over and out!-

…

-Mr. Prince! This is Crown! Over!-

-This is Mr. Prince. I hear you, go ahead! Over!-

-Mossman is almost done cleaning up. I sent him to back up your location once he's finished. Over!-

-Understood! How are things with you and Truth? Over!-

-Truth and I are still negotiating with RedNose… [Who the hell are you calling rednose?!] … about our objective. It's still going to take a while. Over!-

-Hurry it up, will you! Marines could be here any second! Over!-

-That's why we have you up there Mr. Prince. Over and out!-

…

Moments earlier in the underground holding cells.

…

John had fought his way down to the underground holding cells. He had shot and/or cut down any marine in his path while Usopp/Truth stayed safely behind him. The two eventually made their way to their objective where they came face to face with Buggy the clown and his crew, as well as Alvida.

The entire lot where sitting behind bars inside the holding cell and had been anxiously waiting for whoever was coming down the stairs. The marines assigned to watch them had taken off earlier to go see what was going on, leaving the pirates by themselves.

In the following moments Buggy and his allies could hear the sound of fighting and dying marines coming from upstairs, until everything went silent except for a pair of heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

The desperate battle cry of a single marine could be heard charging, before suddenly being silenced by the sound of a blade cutting through flesh. The body tumbled down the stairs and the heavy footsteps continued their descent.

Buggy and his allies who were all crammed in the second-to-last holding cell watched as the marine who had tumbled down the stairs after being cut dragged himself across the floor in front of their cell. Clutching at his chest and with tears in his eyes, the marine left a trail of blood as he crawled towards the table in the far corner of the room. On top of the table stood a lit oil lamp, an open newspaper, a pistol and a regular transponder snail.

Those present in the room never found out which of the objects the marine was so desperate to reach as a shadow was cast over the man and the entirety of the floor. By the shadow you could tell that the owner of that shadow was holding a pistol aimed at the ceiling, Buggy and his allies held their breath as they watched the shadow lower the pistol, aimed it towards the crying marine and fired. Alvida and buggy's crew felt a shiver go up and down their spine as they now stared at the lifeless corpse of the marine, with a round hole going all the way through from the back of his head. Buggy himself was shocked, but not horrified like the others. Buggy had been a pirate for a long, long time and he'd witnessed many things. The thing that made Buggy as dangerous as he was wasn't his skill with his devil fruit powers, but his years of experience as a pirate.

…

The killer's shadow came into motion as the shadow's owner made his way toward them. As if becoming aware of a dangerous predator, buggy's crew and Alvida crawled closer against the back wall of their cell. With each one of them in chains they could only crawl because of the impediment to their limbs. This left buggy sitting with his legs crossed, right in the center of the cell. His arms tied behind his back, buggy was the only one to notice the second man behind the first to descend down the stairs and follow him

"So to what do I owe the honor of meeting with the vengeful ghost of the grand-line… captain Spears D. John?" Buggy asked. As John took a seat on the hard stone floor in front of him.

"You know who I am?" John asked mildly surprised.

"Ha! Of course I know who you are! There isn't a true pirate in the world who hasn't heard of you! At age 6, you are the youngest person to ever become an enemy of the world government with a bounty of 100 million Beri!" Buggy exclaimed exited.

The two captains continued to stare each other down, until "So… mind answering my question? What… does a man known as "the vengeful ghost" and "the marine hunter" want with a small time pirate like me. I can think of only one reason, but I can say for certain that I don't have any information on the men you want to find, at least none that you don't already have." Buggy said.

"So you even know who my enemies are… it doesn't matter. What does matter is the fact that thanks to you and the straw-hat, I lost my crew and my ship." John said as his expression turned into one of anger and slight insanity.

The crazed look on his face sent shivers up the spines of the buggy pirates(including Alvida). Buggy himself had to use every ounce of his self-control to try and hide the fact he had involuntarily swallowed away his nervousness.

"Luckily for me, I bumped into what's left of the straw-hats. I even made a deal with them that ended up being beneficial for both parties involved." John explained as his crazed expression softened slightly. Though he never broke eye-contact with Buggy, not even to blink.

"They've agreed to join me as the newly reformed spear pirates. In other words they've made me their leader and captain of their ship. So I consider their debt paid in full."

'debt? I don't like the sound of this! if he's thinking what I'm thinking then…' Buggy thought.

"However, while the straw-hats have paid their debt, you on the other hand haven't even begun to pay for the role you played in the death of my crew and the destruction of my ship." John said as he smirked at the look of realization on Buggy's face.

" **FORGET IT! IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU EVEN A SINGLE BERRI OF MY TREASURE YOU'RE DEAD WRONG!"** Buggy started ranting, under the impression that the man wanted compensation in the form of money, precious metals(gold, silver, etc.) or gems(diamonds, rubies, emeralds).

Buggy continued to rant on and on about how he would rather die than surrender his treasure to him. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to get a word in, John took this opportunity to contact Zoro using his mini-transponder snail.

"This is Crown to Mossman! Mossman come in! Over!" John said.

-Stop calling me that!- Zoro's voice sounded out.

"Mossman, how are things looking up there with you? over!" John asked.

-I'm almost finished!- Zoro's voice sounded out as well as the scream of a man and the sound of steal cutting through flesh. -only eight left before I'm done up here!-

"Understood! When you're done up there join Mr. Prince at the front door! Over and out!" John responded.

'I should probably let Sanji know I'm sending Zoro over to him.' John thought.

"Mr. Prince! This is Crown! Over!"

-This is Mr. Prince. I hear you, go ahead! Over!- Sanji's voice sounded out.

"Mossman is almost done cleaning up. I sent him to back up your location once he's finished. Over!" John said.

-Understood! How are things with you and Truth? Over!- Sanji asked.

"Truth and I are still negotiating with RedNose…"

"Who the hell are you calling rednose?!" Buggy yelled out, being brought out of him rant.

"… about our objective. It's still going to take a while. Over!" John finished his sentence.

-Hurry it up, will you! Marines could be here any second! Over!-

"That's why we have you up there Mr. Prince. Over and out!" John said, before focusing his attention back on Buggy.

"There appears to be a bit of a misunderstanding between us. I don't want your money or gold or jewels or treasure maps for that matter."

"Then what do you want?! What could I possibly have that has any value to you?" Buggy asked, seriously curious.

"Isn't it obvious? What is the ONE thing that you have? The ONE thing that ONLY YOU have and NOBODY ELSE?" John tried to make Buggy realize his objective.

…

*sigh*

Sighing at the fact that buggy hadn't been able to figure it out on his own after half a minute, John drew his attention by snapping his fingers in front of the clown's face and said "… your infamous buggy balls! You don't seem to realize how big of an asset they could possibly be. I've heard stories and I've even seen the aftermath of one of your buggy balls and I was most definitely impressed. Your buggy balls are anywhere between 4 to 10 times more powerful than a regular cannon ball." John explained.

"So here's the deal… you're going to tell my gunpowder expert over here…" John began as he pulled Usopp closer to him. "…exactly how to make one of your buggy balls! Everything he needs to make it and how to make it, and in return I'll open this cell and take off those handcuffs." John finished.

Buggy looked Usopp up and down as the boy pulled out a notebook and pencil. Buggy's crew had now dragged themselves forward and were pulling on their captain's clothes as well as groveling at his feet while they begged him to accept the terms of the deal.

A vein popped on his forehead before he yelled at his crew and they became quiet and shuffled back a bit. **"Shut up you stupid seagulls! Stop squawking at me like that!"** buggy then turned forward again and sighed before gnashing his teeth. "…agreed…" Was the only thing he said.

"Then get to work, and don't try to deceive my expert over here! If he thinks that the instructions you give him are fake, will cause the cannon ball to explode before it's supposed to, or doesn't explode at all…" John paused before finishing his threat, "…I'll burn the whole lot of you! Right here and right now!"

 _Loguetown/clock tower/08:55 in the morning_

Nami was getting extremely bored with the task she'd been assigned, "stay hidden and keep an eye out for enemy movement!". Her friends had been inside the base for almost 20 minutes now and there was still no sign of the marines. Which wasn't that strange considering that most of the marines on the island were inside of the base when the entire operation began.

The only thing that had happened so far was the conversation over the mini-transponder-snail, and that was 10 minutes ago. She was about to run out of patience, as she thought 'do we really need those damn buggy balls?! I mean, I can't deny that they're more powerful than a regular cannonball, but are they really worth it to risk our freedom and lives over?!'

Unfortunately Nami's attention was drawn towards the left before she could get an answer to her question. A squadron of marines were being led by a middle ranked officer towards the marine base. Running ahead of his troops the officer yelled out orders and words of bravery. Nami decided to notify the others when she could hear another squadron of soldiers running through the streets, but on her right. She couldn't see them as they were still making their way through one of the streets attached at a 90 degree angle with the street in front of the marine base.

The houses to her right were blocking her view of the second squadron, but she knew they would quickly meet up with the first and surround the entire base.

"This is Pinwheel! Marines are making their way towards the base! I repeat! The marines are heading towards the base! over!" Nami spoke into her mini transponder snail.

-Nami-swaaaaan! Don't worry! I'll come and save you!- Sanji's voice rang out.

-Pinwheel, have they spotted you? over!- John's voice crackled over the transponder. His voice barely heard. Wherever he was, the signal was barely getting through.

"No, I don't think so. Over!" Nami responded.

-Understood. Mr. Prince you are to stay at your post until I say otherwise! Has Mossman joined up with you yet? Over!- John asked.

-If Nami gets hurt because of this I'll kill you myself. And no the Mossman hasn't shown his ugly face yet.-Sanji said.

-HUH?! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING HAS AN UGLY FACE?! ERO COOK!- Zoro's voice was heard coming from a distance away over the transponder and getting closer.

-Never mind, he just showed up. AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING ERO COOK?! YOU STUPID MOSSHEAD!- Sanji replied before beginning a fight with Zoro.

-Enough! Truth and I are coming up so hold those marines at bay for a minute or so! And Mr. Prince… if you ever use anything other than our codenames over the transponder again… I'll be the one doing the killing! Over and out!- John ordered.

 _Loguetown/marine base front door/08:57 in the morning_

Sanji had just heard the report from Nami over the transponder snail, and wanted to go make sure she was safe. But he'd been ordered to stay where he was so he couldn't go see his precious Nami.

At least he knew she was safe… for now. Then the idiot swordsman showed up. Sanji wanted to say better late than never, but he couldn't care less if he didn't show up at all. But honestly Zoro was part of their crew and therefore a comrade, which means he cares about the guy. Even if they don't always get along.

That's why, after arguing for half a minute, Sanji decided to change the subject and asked "So what took you so long to get here anyway?"

"SHUT UP! the inside is like a maze! The place is full of dead ends!" Zoro shouted back as he remembered running through the halls of the base and somehow always ended up at a dead end hallway designated with a plaque which said "C-13".

The next moment the first squadron arrived at the front of the main entrance of their own base, where they were greeted by Sanji, who was smoking a cigarette, and Zoro, who was tapping one of his swords against his shoulder.

"In the name of the world government! You are under arrest! Drop your weapons and surrender peacefully!" the officer demanded.

…

Two minutes later, John, Usopp, Buggy and his crew made their way outside and stumbled upon the scene of Sanji and Zoro standing tall and surrounded by the beaten bodies of their opponents. Marines laid either unconscious or injured all around.

"Sanji! Zoro! What happened here?!" Usopp asked.

"…well, we kinda…" Sanji began, but was cut off by John.

"No time for an explanation! We got what we came for! Now it's time to get off of this island!" John said. Zoro sheathed his swords and tipped his head in agreement. "r-r-right!" Usopp replied.

"From here on out we address each other with our proper names, code names are forbidden! Sanji, go meet up with Nami and escort her to dry dock…" John looked over to Usopp with a confused look on his face.

"huh? Oh! Number 3! They put the merry in dry-dock number 3!" Usopp reminded the group.

"Okay, I'll see you guys there!" Sanji waved them goodbye as he ran off with a serious look on his face.

"If anything happens, use the transponder snails!" John shouted after Sanji, who raised his hand signaling that he'd heard him.

"Buggy. This is where we part ways! Next time we meet will be on the grand-line or in the afterlife." John said as he tossed the man a single gold coin. Which is an ancient pirate way of shaking hands.

"Heh! I don't die that easily!" Buggy said as he tossed the coin back. Normally you'd toss one of your own instead of the same coin, but the marines confiscated all the gold he'd had on him at the time of his arrest.

"Usopp, Zoro, follow me!" John said as he took off towards the docks.

...

 _Loguetown/marine base front door/buggy and his crew/08:59 in the morning_

"Buggy pirates! I'm not leaving this town empty handed! Pillage and plunder to your hearts content!" Buggy shouted out before erupting into laughter.

Before his crew could burst out in cheers, Alvida decided to put her own two cents in, saying "Are you insane?! We should take this chance to get out of here!" "Not before I've regained my lost treasure! Go ahead boys, break into the houses! Take everything of value! Silver! Gold! Berries! And gemstones! Take them all!" Buggy commanded.

"Bu-! -ggy! Bu-! –ggy! Bu-! –ggy!" the crew erupted into cheers, before picking up the weapons of the marines that Zoro and Sanji had beaten and started breaking into people's houses and taking everything of value. A minute later the second squad of marines arrived and a battle began. Buggy and his crew fought their way back to their ship, but were forced to leave a great deal of their plunder behind. A handful of his crew died in battle but no one important.

 _Loguetown/cobblestone streets/John, Zoro and Usopp/09:03 in the morning_

"I just got off the transponder snail with Nami! She said we'd better hurry, because a rainstorm is approaching fast and it'll make it difficult for us to sail away." John informed his two crewmates. Usopp and Zoro looked up at the already darkening sky overhead. Huge, dark clouds were forming rapidly and the wind started picking up.

Nami was right as always, it didn't take long for the rain to fall.

"Huh? I think I see someone up ahead!" Usopp warned the others.

"hm?" Zoro and John looked ahead where a lone silhouette could barely be seen through the heavy rain.

Zoro turned serious as he recognized the person in question.

"I didn't know you two were pirates, you're both liars!" Tashigi said as she raised her head and looked both of them in the eyes. John and Zoro slowed down their pace until they came to a full stop. Usopp, who didn't expect this tried to stop as well, but slipped and fell on his back and continued to spin out of control.

"Step aside! I don't have time to waste on a naïve weakling like you!" John said.

"I won't! There is no way I'm going to allow people like you to leave town with such legendary swords! Give them to me! The Wadou Ichimonji AND the one YOU bought yesterday!" Tashigi shouted at Zoro and John.

John wanted to wave the entire thing off but Zoro jumped in before he could say anything.

Zoro grabbed onto the Wadou Ichimonji and unsheathed it slightly using his thumb. "Come and get it!" he taunted.

"Zoro, we don't have time for this…never mind." John began but decided to let the swordsman fight when he caught the look in his eye. "But only on one condition!"

"You! marine girl!" "My name is Tashigi!" "I don't care. You said that you'd take our swords from us by force if we don't hand them over, right? Well, that goes both ways! If you want our swords you're going to have to put your own on the line!" John said.

"What?!..." Tashigi asked in surprise. She looked down at her Shigure and thought 'If I lose they are going to take my Shigure away from me. No! it's going to be okay. I won't lose!' she hesitated but recovered quickly.

"Make it quick! We don't have a lot of time to waste on this!" John reminded Zoro.

"Got it!" Zoro replied.

Tashigi drew her Shigure and jumped in to attack John and cut him down to avenge Smoker. But Zoro jumped in front of his new captain and they clashed swords. Tashigi slid out of the sword lock and tried to strike at Zoro. Once more her Shigure was caught in a sword lock with Zoro's Wadou Ichimonji.

The two of them stayed like that for ten seconds when John had enough, saying "Zoro! Usopp and I are going on ahead, is that alright with you?" "Yeah! I'll be just fine on my own!" "Don't forget to bring her sword back with you when you win! That's an order by the way." John reminded Zoro.

"Understood!"

And so John and Usopp ran on ahead leaving Tashigi and Zoro to fight things out on their own. They quickly got an audience as the marines arrived to back Tashigi up.

"Tashigi's got one!" a random soldier said.

Zoro let go of his Wadou Ichimonji with a single hand. Now holding back Tashigi with the power of only one arm he drew one of his other katana and attacked, pushing her back.

Tashigi couldn't keep up with her opponent now that he was using two-sword style, and was quickly losing ground. They clashed another dozen times as she blocked and dodged his attacks, but that was as far as she went. She soon found herself with her back against the wall and in the next moment Zoro disarmed her. Her Shigure flew through the air and he stabbed a katana next to her head into the wall. He had won.

Shigure clattered onto the road as the rain continued to fall and the previously cheering marines had fallen completely silent.

Tashigi's eyes started to shake as she fought to keep herself from crying. She stood face to face with an opponent that was able to hold his own against her, using only a single katana with one arm. When he switched to using two swords she was completely outmatched and didn't stand a chance. On top of that her opponent was known for using three-sword style, and yet he'd beaten her with two. It was absolutely humiliating.

Zoro stepped back and sheathed his blades, before taking a step forward again and grabbing Shigure's scabbard and pulling it out of Tashigi's waist-band. There was nothing she could do, she'd already lost, if she'd dropped down to her knees and begged him not to take her Shigure away from her the humiliation would be even worse. And so she could only watch as Zoro walked over towards her Shigure, picked it up and sheathed it, before tucking it away on the opposite side of his own swords.

"Now I think it's time for me to go." Zoro said giving her one last glance. Tashigi couldn't take it anymore, she couldn't take the fact she'd lost both her fight and her precious katana. So she lashed out at him, yelling "Why didn't you just kill me?! I know! It's because I'm a girl!"

"It's pathetic you can't fight me because I'm a woman! It's embarrassing! You may be physically stronger but you don't have the guts! My Shigure wasn't just for decoration, I don't even think you know what it means to carry a sword!" Tashigi shouted.

"Ngaaaah! Would you shut up for one second?! Look you've got the same face as some girl I knew, who died a long time ago! And before I know a thing about you you're talking just like her! So what I want you to do is stop acting like some dead person you don't even know and try to be yourself!" Zoro yelled at her, having had enough of her ramblings that reminded him of Kuina.

"Excuse the hell outta me! it's not my fault I sound like your dead girlfriend, I had no idea it was so rude and thoughtless of me to be myself, you jerk! Do you ever think before you talk?!" Tashigi retorted, leaving Zoro speechless for a moment.

"What the…?! *sigh* never mind, I've had enough of this." Zoro said to himself as he chose to ignore the female swordsman in front of him and turned around. "I'm leaving now! I trust none of you are stupid enough to try and stop me!" Zoro stated over his shoulder as he walked away.

The moment he disappeared from their sight, Tashigi fell to her knees and tears began running down her cheeks uncontrollably. "Shigure…Roronoa…" she whispered so only she could hear. 'Why did this happen?' she thought to herself. 'Why did he have to take away my Shigure?' The answer came easier than she initially thought as the face of THAT man and his words came back to her.

*Tashigi flashback*

"You! marine girl!" "My name is Tashigi!" "I don't care. You said that you'd take our swords from us by force if we don't hand them over, right? Well, that goes both ways! If you want our swords you're going to have to put your own on the line!"

*Tashigi flashback end*

It was HIM! HE was responsible for this. Tashigi had known about Roronoa Zoro before and from what she'd read and heard about him, he never once robbed an opponent of their cherished weapon. No, this was the work of the other one, the one that defeated Captain Smoker. Tashigi uttered a single name, slowly and venomously.

"John… D. … Spears…"

 _Loguetown/dry-dock #3/John and Usopp/09:10 in the morning_

John and Usopp stood before a long, tall building made of stone that partially stood in the harbor. Made entirely out of huge blocks of stone, except for the green roof-tiles and reinforced steel doors.

Looking up at the enormous double doors, John and Usopp read the blue text written, centered, on the two doors.

Dry-dock

3

"So this is where your ship is being held?" John asked, looking at Usopp. "Yes! I'm sure of it! Nami and I saw the marines sail the going merry into this building with our own two eyes!" Usopp replied.

"You didn't mention that it'd be held behind reinforced steel doors when we discussed this last night." John said, slightly agitated. "We didn't get a close enough look for that, we only saw the marines take the merry inside before closing and locking the sluice gates behind them." Usopp replied.

"According to the plan, we'd be using dynamite to blow our way… but this is reinforced steel! Dynamite won't work anymore, which means we have to improvise." John said. "We have to find another way in... hm."

"You want to come up with an entirely new idea now?!" Usopp asked. "The marines could be here any second! We've already been here for 5 whole minutes!" Usopp screamed in panic.

"Perhaps this would go faster if, instead of yelling at me, you'd use your head to come up with an idea of your own!" John said as he continued to stare intensely at the two steel doors.

"What's going on here?! I thought you two were supposed to be inside by now?!" Nami asked incredulously as Sanji put her down. Sanji had been carrying her bridal style as they've been jumping across the rooftops to get here.

"Oh! Hi Nami, hi Sanji!" Usopp waved to his friends, glad to see both were alright. "What happened to the moss-head?" Sanji asked. "He'll be here soon enough, he stayed to fight someone who challenged him to an honorable one-on-one duel." John explained. "And the reason Usopp and I are still standing here is because someone forgot to mention that the doors on the dry-dock were made of reinforced steel. In other words, dynamite won't get us inside therefore we are stuck." John said with his back turned towards them and his gaze still fixated on the building in front of him.

"Ugh!" Nami groaned as she pushed passed Usopp and John and kneeled in front of the lock on the two doors. "I'll break into this lock over here, so you guys keep an eye out for me, okay?" Nami said as she went to work on the lock.

"Yeah! Way to go Nami! No wonder you're our cat-burglar!" Usopp cheered.

"Nami~~~! If you're done with the door you can break into the lock on my heart anytime!" Sanji flirted with his one visible eye turned into a heart and his legs turning into a blurry whirlwind as he ran all over the place while grasping at his heart.

John smirked and said, "I swear, you guys were wasted on that idiot captain of yours. The best of the best the east blue has to offer, a cook with super legs, a swordsman that uses three sword-style, a sniper who's also an inventor and a thief slash cartographer. This crew might be even better than my last one."

Sanji and Nami smiled at the praise John gave them, but couldn't enjoy the moment too long as Usopp burst out screaming, "The marines! They've found us! What do we do?!" John looked back towards town and saw another squadron of marines coming towards them.

"Usopp! Calm down! Sanji! Protect Nami, make sure nothing and no-one gets anywhere near her! Nami! Get those doors open, don't worry about anything else but that! Usopp! You're a sniper for crying out loud, so start firing! Thin out their numbers before they can get any closer!"

"Right!" Sanji, Nami and Usopp responded as they followed their new captains orders. The way he gave his orders so fast filled them with joy, when they sailed with Luffy and got into trouble they either fought their way out or ran away. But now, with John in charge, they felt safer. John was confident and stopped to think before making a decision. When they were around John they felt like everything was going to be alright. Luffy just always seemed to survive on dumb luck.

Nami focused back on breaking the lock, Sanji hurried to her side and lit a cigarette as he psyched himself up to keep her safe and Usopp had reached into his bag and brought out his slingshot and a handful of lead bullets. Usopp put his goggles on so the rain wouldn't interfere with his sight and began firing away at the quickly approaching marines.

"Pocket-Pocket rifle!" John yelled as he activated his devil fruit powers to summon up a standard marine issue rifle. Going to stand a dozen feet ahead of Usopp, John knelt down to one knee and took aim… waiting for the marines to get in range of his firing abilities, seeing as he was nowhere near as good a shot as Usopp was, and fired his first shot.

"Pocket-Pocket rifle!" John said once again, not bothering to reload his rifle, instead he used his devil fruit powers to store the fired rifle away while at the same time summoning an already loaded one from his Pocket dimension. John continued to use his devil fruit powers in this manner to rapid fire at the approaching marines.

Usopp's shots were always right on target and always hit their mark. But there wasn't enough power behind his rubber-band-slingshot to kill anyone, only knock them down or unconscious. John's rifle on the other hand was slightly less accurate, but the bullets pierced through the skin and into the flesh, leaving his targets either dead, dying or severely injured.

After having fired over 30 shots, John stood up from his kneeling position as he had run out of rifles and was now left with only pistols. As he fired he slowly retreated step by step until he once more stood beside Usopp.

"How much longer?!" John asked, glancing over his shoulder at Nami. "Another minute or two!" She replied. "We don't have a minute or two!" He yelled back. "I can't work any faster than this! You'll just have to hold them off!"

"*Angry growl*… Usopp! Sanji! Switch!" John yelled out as he got a new plan.

"What?!" Sanji and Usopp asked confused. "Switch! Now!" John simply yelled as he sealed away his pistol in his pocket dimension. In the meantime Usopp turned around and ran to Nami's side where he'd do his best to keep her safe while she worked. Sanji simply jumped forward, landing besides his new captain, thinking 'Why did he want Usopp and me to switch places now? Usopp could have gotten a few more hits in before the marines got too close!' "I hope you know what you're doing?!" Sanji said as he dropped his cigarette and stomped it out on the stones beneath.

John merely smirked as he reached into his pocket dimension, saying "Pocket-Pocket bazooka!" taking out a bazooka and taking aim, instead of firing at the enemy, John fired right in front of them. The blast sent up a cloud of dust and black smoke, stopping the enemies advance and hindering their sight.

"Let's go!" John yelled as he summoned two standard marine-officer cutlasses and charged straight towards the blinded and disorganized marines. Sanji smiled as he understood, by having him and Usopp switch places so soon, John still had the distance needed for him to fire his bazooka at the enemy. Now that the marines stopped charging at them, John and him could get in close and keep them occupied, away from Nami but still within range for Usopp to give cover-fire. Their new captain really was a genius when it comes to thinking up plans on the spot.

Sanji hurried after his new captain and jumped into the dust cloud with him. Once inside, they split off, John towards the left and Sanji towards the right. This way they couldn't accidentally bump into and attack one another. Running around the slowly settling dust cloud, the two pirates started taking out everyone in their path, cutting and kicking down marines as they went along. But after a little under a minute the dust cloud had almost completely vanished and the two now stood back to back.

All around them marines were closing in on them, there were still around 60 of the original 200 marines standing. Out of breath, John turned his head to glance at blond haired cook and said, "I'm sorry, but this is all I could think off to buy them enough time to open those doors. I knew we wouldn't be able to keep them busy for long and I don't know how we're going to get out of this one, but at least your friends will have a chance."

"Heh, I knew from the start this was a one way ticket, I just had a feeling that somehow you'd be able to get us out of this one, just like you did the last one." Sanji said as he lit what he thought might be his last cigarette.

"Well, if I'm going to die I'm glad it's beside you!" Sanji said. "Good, luckily for you I might have come up with a way out of this while you were busy accepting your fate and being all emotional." John informed his new crewmember and joked about his last words.

'He already came up with a new plan?!' Sanji thought incredulously.

"Are you ready? Stay close and don't hesitate! Otherwise…" John began but was abruptly interrupted by the painful screams of several marines at the edge of their encirclement. Zoro had made it to the harbor just in time to jump into the fray and started cutting down marines, forcing the marines to be distracted and focus on him. Cutting and slashing, Zoro fought his way towards his new captain and Sanji. The three of them proceeded to breach through the encirclement.

The moment they made it out Nami's voice shouted out loudly, "I'm through! The doors are open!"

"Great! Sanji, Zoro! Hold these guys off for a little while longer!" John said as he turned around and made his way over to the dry-dock as fast as he could. "Got it!" "No problem!"

As John came close to the two remaining members of his new crew he said to them, "Hurry! Inside!"

"What about Sanji and Zoro?!" Nami asked. "They'll be right behind us, now go!" Nami and Usopp ran inside the dry-dock with John close on their tail. Inside they saw the going-merry, held off of the ground by three large wooden braces. "How are we going to get her back into the ocean? The tide is too low! If we take her out now we'll damage the hull!" Nami said.

"leave the ship to me! Nami, Usopp, the levers to open the sluice gates are up there on either side of the gates! Get up there and open those gates!" John ordered as he pointed to two thin metal walkways hanging in the air against the inside walls of the building. The control levers to open the gates were at the end of each walkway, next to the gates themselves.

"Okay we're on it!" Usopp said as he hurried off towards the ladder that would take him up the farthest of the two walkways.

Several seconds later Nami and Usopp stood at the control levers of the gates, the going-merry down below between the two. "Now!" Nami said as she pulled on the lever, opening the left sluice gate. Almost simultaneously, Usopp pulled on his lever, opening the right sluice gate.

"Good job you guys! Now hurry up and get back down here!" John said. Usopp and Nami did as suggested and hurried back towards the ladders to get back down, in the meantime Zoro and Sanji came running in through the doors, closing them behind them. The sound of angry marines could be heard, banging on the now closed doors.

"Ah, Zoro, Sanji, just in time we're about to leave." John informed the new arrivels. Zoro and Sanji looked at the merry which was still stuck upon the three wooden braces, being held up into the air. Leaning against the doors while putting their weight against it, the two looked at one another dumbfound and back to their new captain with irritated expressions on their faces.

"And how exactly do we plan to leave when our ship is still being held 3 feet into the air?!" Sanji wanted to know.

"Easy, by doing this of course." John replied calmly before turning around to face the ship and placing both hands flat on the ground. " **Pocket-Pocket ship!** " John yelled really loud. The former straw-hat pirates couldn't believe their eyes as they watched the going-merry sink into a pitch black, swirling vortex that had appeared directly beneath it. It took less than 10 seconds for the entire ship to disappear into the darkness before the vortex closed up again.

After witnessing such a feat, Nami stopped dead in her tracks at the top of the ladder. Usopp almost fell off of his own and Zoro and Sanji almost allowed the marines to break through in their momentary distracted state.

"Holy cow! What did you do?! What happened to the merry?!" Usopp asked.

"I sealed it away in my pocket dimension! Remember? I'm a pocket man. I ate the pocket-pocket fruit." John explained. "So… are we ready to go? The sluice gates have opened up enough by now so I say we set sail immediately." John said before he walked up to the now opened up sluice gates and stopped right in front of the edge of the water.

Taking a deep breath John steeled his gaze out onto the ocean and screamed " **Pocket-Pocket ship!** " The four former straw-hat pirates watched in awe at the back of their new captain, as the swirling vortex reappeared, but this time into the air and vertical like a wall instead of a floor.

Coming shooting out of the other side of the vortex was the going merry. She didn't fly far, only a couple feet, but it was enough to get her into deeper waters.

"All aboard!" John ordered as he smirked victoriously. "It's time we get out of this place and take to the seas!" Usopp was the first to come to his senses and run into the water until it came up to his waist, from there he continued to climb up the side of the ship and further up still towards the sails. Nami was the one to follow after Usopp but as she made her way over the ships railing a gust of wind blew through the harbor, pushing the ship further out to sea.

"Hurry guys! The winds are pushing us further out to sea!" Nami called out to the three left inside. But it was too late, already the going merry was too far to jump towards, even for Sanji.

"Pocket-Pocket barrel!" John yelled, and an empty barrel dropped into the waves between them and the ship, Zoro understood and jumped onto the barrel and then jumped onto the ship. Sanji and John weren't as lucky as a cannon shot from a marine ship hit the barrel dead on and destroyed it.

"Great! Now what do we do?!" Sanji asked. "We swim!" John yelled before pushing Sanji into the sea and jumping in immediately after.

When Sanji got his head back above the water, he was greeted by the sight of John jumping into the water as well. 'What the hell?! I thought devil fruit users couldn't swim?!' Sanji thought. Soon afterwards Sanji felt two hands grasping at one of his legs and trying to climb up him towards the surface. For a moment Sanji was pulled under the water again until John climbed his way up to the point where he could hold onto Sanji's shoulders. With his legs free, Sanji was able to kick hard enough to bring the both of them back to the surface.

"What the hell are you doing! Devil fruit users can't swim you moron!" Sanji scolded. "I know that, now I'll leave the rest up to you. Get us to the ship safely." John was able to utter weakly before the ocean drained all of his energy and he lost consciousness.

"Dammit!" Sanji cursed as he dived down, taking hold of his new captain underneath his armpits with one arm, he placed John's head against his chest and started swimming. Trying to keep both of their heads above the water as much as possible, they made it to the edge of the going merry after what felt like several hours of fighting against the waves.

Zoro had tossed a rope down for them to climb up, but John was still unconscious so Sanji carried the taller man over his shoulder up to the ship where he tossed him on the deck.

"Thank god! You guys made it." Nami sighed in relief at the sight of the entire crew safely on board of the merry. "Zoro, go help Usopp with the sails! Sanji, get over here and take over the rudder!" Nami ordered while John was still coughing up the last gallons of seawater stuck in his lungs out on the deck.

"Got it!" "I'm on it!" Zoro and Sanji replied, hurrying around the ship. From up in the mast, Usopp saw something in the distance. "Nami! There's a light up ahead!"

"That has to be the lighthouse, it acts as a guidepost! That means that the entrance to the grand line is just up ahead!" Nami responded.

"Forward! Do not hesitate! Our destiny lies ahead of us, on the grand line!" John yelled out as he struggled to get onto his feet, reminding everyone that he was the captain and in charge of this ship.

"Okay then! I think we should say something to mark the occasion." Sanji said.

"Right!" Usopp said.

"Let's do it!" Nami agreed.

Sanji lifted his leg up onto an empty barrel that was standing in the middle of the deck, saying "I'm going to find the all blue."

"I'm going so I can draw a map of the entire world." Nami said as she put her leg next to Sanji's.

"The world's greatest swordsman." Zoro said, planting his own leg on top of the barrel.

"I guess I'm going, to be a brave warrior of the sea." Usopp said as he put his foot next to the others.

"To avenge my people and wipe out every single one of the celestial dragons!" John exclaimed, a fire burning in his eyes as he put his foot onto the barrel with the others.

"To the grand line!" John yelled signaling each one of them to lift up their legs high before slamming them down hard on top of the barrel.

The barrel broke at the same time as thunder struck, and so the newly reformed Spear Pirates escaped from Loguetown and began their journey to the grand line!

To be continued…!

 _ **End chapter 3: Escape from Loguetown!**_

Finally done! I haven't had much time to write but I've finally found the time and I've been working hard on multiple stories.

Don't forget to follow, favorite and review!


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